Maximum Ninja: Angel Ride
by Auto-nin
Summary: After being adducted by the School, Naruto and friends are stuck on Earth, trying to find a way home. However, when they find Max and her flock, they get drawn into a ride that will lead to possibly saving both worlds, if they survive escaping the School.
1. Chapter 1 Birds of a Feather

Ch.1 "Birds Of A Feather"

Disclaimer-I own nothing, especially Naruto and Maximum Ride

Okay. I want to kill my computer and internet. I had my author note and the end almost done and the page expires before I can save. Well, here I go again. Here's two favorites in one... However, I have been getting small complaints about Naruto being a girl... Well, sorry for those who prefer Naruto as a guy, this is another female one. However, I am trying to think up of a male Naruto one hence the poll on my profile along with the rant that explains I will write mostly female Naruto stories. With that done, I have a question at the end of this story I need answer, so please read the end... And now onto the story.

Angel

Thirteen year old Uchiha Sasuke groaned as he woke up. His head was pounding as if his teammates Haruno Sakura and Uzumaki Naruto screamed in his ears at the highest scream they could go while having been poked in the forehead with a sword instead of a finger which his evil brother always did-except for the sword part-and all that with his stupid curse mark acting up… Sure, he knew none of those things alone could cause the pain in his head like right now, but his imagination sure made it as a good excuse.

Sasuke tried to remember what happened as it could explain why his head felt the way. …He remembered Naruto running off after refusing to fight him after the Fifth Hokage healed him. Sakura and he followed the blond into the woods and found out Naruto didn't want to fight when they found the blond throwing up with some blood in the puke. This got the Uchiha very worried as Naruto was getting stronger than him, but was somehow sick. It made him wonder if the illness came from whatever was making the blond stronger than him as he noticed Naruto's hair was turning white. Sakura pointed it out though, as Sasuke didn't wanted Naruto to know he was getting white hair way too young and hurt his rival in that way of mental thinking, but Naruto then looked at both of them in horror and told Sakura and he to get away from him before he tried to run again, only to collapse and puke again.

Sakura and he did try to help the blond when these very bulked up thugs that didn't look right came at them. Naruto kicked one in the head, shouting Sakura and Sasuke needed to run and leave him. Even though Sasuke didn't like Naruto that much, he couldn't just leave Naruto to get beaten up by a bunch of punks so he fought back with a weak attempt to help from Sakura. However, both soon realized there guys were not punks when they morphed into these werewolf looking creatures and Naruto got knocked out and…

"Naruto!! Sakura!!" Sasuke sat up, shouting when he remembered all-well, except the lazy sensei Hatake Kakashi-were knocked out. However, he was kind of shocked to find himself in a metal cage in a dark room filled with other cages of all sizes.

"Ow… My head…" Sasuke looked to his right and saw Sakura sitting up, but his eyes were glued to her back. "Huh? What's wrong, Sasuke-Sasuke!! You have wings!!!" Sasuke instantly looked at his back and found he had black feathered wings like a raven's on his back that was around maybe fourteen feet in wingspan. "I got wings, too!!" Sakura screamed as she found she had a pair of sooty sliver wings that were twelve feet in wingspan on her back. Neither of them had time to panic about their wings when they heard something moving on the other side of Sakura's cage and both recoiled in horror when they saw some kind of… thing covered with patches of scales and looked like a mix between a snake and human child. Sakura screamed in horror as it try to reach her though Sasuke saw it recoil in fear of the scream and backed away.

"Oh… Who the heck is screaming?" Sasuke's head instantly snapped to the other side for his eyes to widen at the person in the cage on the other side of his. "Ugh… Where-Holy Hokage!?! What is that!?!" Sasuke only paled as he saw the person he swore to kill, Uchiha Itachi, freak out and spat out more curses than he had ever heard his murdering brother since… well, ever. It made Sasuke wonder how much longer it was going to take for the Akatsuki member to notice the nineteen foot wingspan of intense blue feathers on his own back.

"… Are you really the man I am supposed to kill to avenge my clan?" Sasuke sighed as Itachi noticed Sakura and Sasuke there.

"Huh?" Itachi looked around confusedly before finding his wings and realizing he had been captured. "…Sigh… Why do things like this happen to me?" Itachi sighed back. "How did you two end up here? I got attacked by the strange werewolf creatures and got knocked out by an overkill of some kind of gas bombs when I was away from my partner."

"Same here! We also got attacked by werewolf creatures!" Sakura shouted as Sasuke again wondered if Itachi was even worth killing after hearing that. "Huh? Where's Naruto?"

"Naruto-kun is here, too?" Itachi asked while Sasuke glared at Sakura for telling the guy who is after the blond the blond's location… In a sense.

"He was attacked with us… But, I don't see him."

"…I'm right here." Sakura screamed in horror when a white with hints of blond hair, dark skin nineteen year old suddenly appeared in front of her cage. The person was wearing a gown similar to what was in hospitals, but her somewhat large bosom made it more of a short dress. They all noticed the blond had snow white wings with small black pecks on them folded up on her back

"W-W-W-Who the heck are you!!!" Sakura was about the shout when the dark skin person slammed her hand over her mouth.

"Sssh… If you want to get out of here, you need to be quiet… The virus I put into the whitecoats' computers will only last for a little bit longer and all the cameras and security will be back up." The blond opened Sakura's cage as well as both Uchiha brothers.

"Why are you letting him out?!" Sasuke lowly growled while glaring at Itachi. In fact, this place was probably a fitting punishment for the man who killed his own clan.

"…Because we will need to work together to get out of this School." The person sighed as all three looked at her. "They increased the security since I escaped fourteen years ago and another group of mutants escape four years ago."

"Mutants?" Sasuke asked as the snow blond walked towards another end of the room. "Wait, what about the dope?! You know, a blond hair idiot with blue eyes who was with us!"

"…I'll explain once we get out of here." The female pointed at the open vent.

"What-" Just then, several people wearing whitecoats came into the room and saw the four out of the cages.

"What the!?! The experiments are escaping!" One of the female scientists shouted as several of the large men the two Uchiha and Sakura realized they were the werewolves.

"Go!" The snow blond threw several steak knives she pulled out of a pouch she had and hit the thugs who were transforming as all three ninja followed the blond's order before the blond joined them.

"Get Subject Thirteen!"

"Get the experiments!"

"Get Jack! The group heard the scientists' shouted as the blond took the lead and

showed them to the roof of the large structure which looked like a prison.

"Come on." The blond ran while spreading out her wings and with a powerful downward trust, she was up into the air. "Flap your wings and fly! It's the only way out of here as they know we are loose!" The blond shouted as the three ninja heard shouts and dogs barking before an alarm went off.

"But, our friend!?!" Sakura shouted as the door to the roof and saw several fully transformed werewolves.

"No time! Go!" Itachi shouted as all three spread out their new wings and jumped into the air. All three followed the blond, copying her technique to get better balance at flying.

-BANG!-

"Ack!" Itachi barely dodged a flying projectile before the blond pushed him and got hit by several of the projectile before throwing a handmade bomb that exploded to make a smokescreen before they flew off in a different direction to through off any searches just as a rumble of thunder was heard and it began to rain. After an hour and an half of flying, they reached a canyon in a desert the "prison" they were in was near.

Sakura and Sasuke sat next to a fire inside a cave with Itachi looking outside the cave at the rain. All three were trying their best to ignore the blond's grunts as the blond dug out pieces of metal out of her arms and shoulders.

"…Why did you push me out of the way?" Itachi sighed, breaking the silence. "Don't you know I am a criminal?"

"Yeah… In the other world, yes. In this world, no." The blond sighed, watching her wounds completely heal up which didn't shock the three. If you got giant wings, you probably had some strange powers as well.

"NANI!?! We got abducted by aliens!!" Sakura shouted while both Uchiha paled. This was just getting weirder and weirder.

"No… The School has been working in-between to worlds through dimensions, not galaxies. Our world contacted this one through a jutsu and scientists here saw the bloodlines of our world about over a hundred years ago and they began to try to produce a similar versions, but with slicing DNA of animals into humans. They mainly keep the majority here thanks to the lack of suspicious ninja and have smaller Schools and such in our world to make mutants for military purposes as well as bury death experiments or have experiments go through deadly experiments before they die and then dissect them."

"Gross…" Sasuke sighed. He shivered as he imaged Naruto being on a table, about to be dissected alive. "…We have to find Naruto and get back to Konoha…"

"I'll help." Itachi sighed. "Naruto maybe my target, but if he gets killed… Well, I rather not be on the receive end of most of the Akatsuki members' anger for that. Plus, since I was giving the wrong information on which to go after Naruto, he's fine for at least three years before I have to go after Naruto again. I'll just leave you guys before you go to Konoha, so in agreement with helping-"

"….I'm Naruto." The blond sighed before all three looked at her. It was then they noticed the now more icy looking sapphire eyes of the blond and the dark whisker like marks on the blond's cheeks that made them realize who the blond was. "I am one of the School's prized experiments. One of the Subjects as they call us who hit the genetic jackpot."

"Genetic jackpot?" Sasuke asked as Sakura turn red with anger.

"Naruto!! Why the heck didn't you tell us you were you and why the heck are you a girl!!!?" Sakura shouted in pure fury.

"…" Naruto touched Sakura and all three ninja watched in shock as Naruto turned into a perfect clone of Sakura.

"Because the form you just saw was my real form, though all I knew back when I escaped a School in our world was my name was Naruto, though I thought it was really Thirteen with the Subject Thirteen thing. I have a large amount of powers compared to the normal mutant. One of my newer ones I discover back when the Kyuubi attacked Konoha and I turned myself into the stillborn babe known as Uzumaki Naruto with my transformation ability when I didn't want his mother to know some whitecoats accidentally caused to infants death as they forced her to give birth early to escape with the infant, causing both of their deaths as she died soon after. I was not expecting to end up taking up the identity of Uzumaki Naruto even though I discovered my name also happened to be Uzumaki Naruto as I dug through Konoha's records as I discovered I was at least from human parents and they had me in Konoha. However, I found out they died as my father had a bad illness and died soon after my 'abduction' from stress and worry as a child and my mother died giving birth to me on that night I became the Uzumaki Naruto you know." Naruto turned back to her real form. "When I started having headaches and getting some of my powers back as when I do a person transformation I lose my powers, I thought something was wrong and then I wondered if I was going to expire soon when I started getting sick… I didn't want you two to see me die all of a sudden without knowing what caused my death… However, it seems I was wrong as it was my body rejecting the form I was in and I had to transform back. At least I know how long I can hold long term forms when I drink a person's blood, but I can only hold forms from the DNA from someone's skin or hair for a max of twenty-four hours possibly."

"You mean… You spent your first years of life in a place like that!?!" Sasuke shouted in shock.

"…You'll be surprise, Sasuke." Itachi sighed while sitting down. "Humans are cruel."

"Like the council forcing the Hokage to order the killing of the Uchiha clan." Naruto sighed as Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widen.

"You have no-."

"Don't need to. Just keep your mind close from my mind reading abilities." Naruto smirked. "Also, it seems you were cornered when some Root ANBU killed your best friend who used a paralyzing jutsu to keep you from jumping in and you blamed yourself hence how you got the Mangenkyou Sharingan and stuck being the one to kill the Uchiha clan." Sakura and Sasuke just stared at Itachi whose mouth was wide open in shock. "For a ninja who was in the ANBU, your mind is pretty easy to read. But, I'm amazed you still care so much for your brother that you would make him try to kill you to just get him strong enough to face the Uchiha who caused the entire problem. But, word of advice, its only making things worse." Naruto patted Itachi's back, who was frozen from pure shock of being found out, before walking towards the cave opening. "But, excuse me, but I am going to get use some money and clothes as well as set up a several fake trails, so excuse me." Naruto bowed before falling off the cliff the cave was on and flew off.

"…Itachi… You really did that?" Sasuke asked, his world he knew completely shattered.

"… Yes… Though, I also believe Danzou killed Shisui for his eyes as Shisui was so skilled, he can control other people with them and Danzou probably used them on the Hokage to get the orders to kill the Uchiha clan." Itachi sighed. "… Most of Konoha knows of the Uchiha's abitily to control the Bijuu with their Mangenkyou Sharingan and believed the Uchiha clan caused the Kyuubi attack. However, they are half right. An Uchiha did cause the Kyuubi to attack… However, he was outcasted a long time ago… In fact, Konoha thought he was dead, even me, till I met him myself in a sense."

"…" Sasuke looked down. "… So, Konoha is to blame."

"No… Human stupidity." Sasuke looked at Itachi. "People let hate take control of them… I accidentally made that mistake with making you hate me to get powerful… Now, I ruined my life and almost did the same to you… You probably can never forgive me." Itachi sighed. "…But, then again, I think getting giant wings added onto your back counts as life being ruined."

"…Nii-chan…" Sakura and Itachi noticed Sasuke was shaking before he tackled Itachi with a hug that knocked the once ANBU ninja on his back. Itachi ruffled Sasuke's hair as the thirteen year old let out five years of penned up emotions as Sakura sighed in relief for her crush. However, even she wondered how they would be able to go back to Konoha as they were now freaks.

'…I wonder if my parents will still accept me like this?' Sakura thought while using her wings wrapping around her like a blanket. She just hoped that they technically still had a home.

Angel

Naruto landed on the cliff edge just as the sun's rays were coming up to find all three ninja asleep.

"Rise and shine! I got breakfast!" Naruto shouted, causing Sakura, Sasuke, and Itachi to groan while waking up stiff.

"Man… What did I sleep on?" Itachi got up, stretching to hear pops from the joints and bones.

"Rock." Naruto sighed as all three noticed Naruto putting down a backpack and a large sack filled with clothes. Naruto was currently wearing a black coat with an orange shirt underneath and wearing a pair of pants though exposing her ankles thanks to her new tall height that had snaps on the side and a pair of skin tight shorts underneath, and a pair of strange closed up shoes that were white with strings on it. "Mother Nature's nature worst bed. Now we got to eat cause we got to get going."

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked while Naruto put down a paper bag that was in the pack she had and pulled out some wrapped up food. They didn't ask where the blond get or what it was as they were too hunger to care and ate what the blond gave them. Surprisingly, it was pretty good though they had to eat the strange item of two pieces of bread with meat in the middle with their hands.

"We got to find one of the Schools with a special machine that is now used in place of the jutsu. So, the closet one here that could at least have the information is hidden in California." Naruto pulled out a map and opened it to show the three other ninja. They were shocked they couldn't read the language on it. "We are currently here in the desert near the border of California and Nevada meets here in Arizona. It's about a day's flight as long as we stay low enough to stay out of jet stream, including pit stops."

"You know the location of the Schools?" Sasuke asked in shock.

"Hai… You could blindfold me and drop me in the middle of Brazil and I can find my way back to all the Schools and such places I have been imprisoned even if I didn't even know the location by name. I know all the locations as coordinates thanks to the sort of natural computer in my brain which I can connect to other computers and even hack them without being backtracked. All I need to do is get close to the main underground wires that leads into the School to get the information we need. However, we all need to change clothes… And Sakura and I dye our hair color."

"What!?! What's wrong with my hair!" Sakura shouted.

"Here, natural pink hair does not exist." Naruto sighed while pulling out some hair dye and a jug of water with a bucket and some towels. "So does white blond hair. Don't worry, once we get back to Konoha, I know of a salon who knows how to get permanent dye out of hair as I accidently made my hair neon green once thanks to a prank gone wrong."

"I think I remember that one as several ANBU also got their heads turn green because of that." Itachi chuckled. He remembered that Kakashi was also one of those victims and his hair looked like a bunch of grass because of that.

"Yeah, but, we got to be careful." Naruto sighed. "Even though I made a lot of false trails, the School's Erasers aren't complete idiots when it comes to tracking."

"Erasers?" Itachi had a bad feeling about what an "Eraser" and it was not something on the end of a pencil.

"Those so-called werewolves." Naruto sighed while pulling some kind of device out of the sack with some clothes and other stuff. "They are used as guards, police, and executioners by the school. They appear like bulky humans, somewhat like models for strength contests, in human form and total werewolves with the hunting instincts and nastiness. They will either be order to capture us or tear us apart to dispose of us." Naruto said while getting out some tools. "So, we got to stay one step ahead of the wolves and their owners."

"What are you going to do with that?" Itachi asked, noticing the black object in the blond's hand.

"I'm about to do an overhaul modding on this PSP." Naruto grinned only to sweat as all three looked at her with complete confusion. ".. This is a Playstation Portable which is a video system that can be used to play games, but I am going to overhaul or make it into a mini-computer to help me out as it will be easier to get the information we need by making a portable computer that looks like a plaything… That and I like the games I got for it and will be making so I can still play them as well as the fact it doubles for a music and video player."

"…Even with the explanation, I barely understood that..." Sakura sighed.

"Sorry… Another of my strong points is my skills with computers and gadgets as I like spy stuff like the movies from this world known as 007… In fact, I kind of expected being a ninja was kind of the same thing with cool ninja tools similar to what this world's spies had… But I was wrong, though it is still cool being a ninja." Naruto sighed, using the tools she had to get the so call PSP open and began to strip it of parts and making new parts. "And here, all my skills and watching spy movies are gonna come real useful here. But, first, Sakura, could you do my hair while I work on this? I'll do yours next."

"Sure, what color?" Sakura asked as she noticed Naruto bought several colors of hair dye.

"Hmmm… I really liked my hair being blond, but they had seen me with blond hair before… I guess I'll have to go with red then. It will look more of strawberry blond, but it should work." Naruto sighed while a towel and wrapping it around her neck. "Sasuke, Itachi. Go through the clothes and pick out what you like to wear… I try guessing your sizes in shoes as ninja sandals don't exist here, so I got several shoes for you to try on…" Naruto put a screw driver, metal end towards, in her mouth.

"…I am so going to laugh my butt off if that goes down your throat." Sasuke sighed at Naruto. At least he knew Naruto was still Naruto… Though, he finally found where Naruto's brains were at… If being stuck in games and stupid gadgets counts as a location.

"No worries. I have swallowed larger things and regurgitated them back up."

"Too much info." Itachi paed, suddenly losing what was left of his appetite along with his brother.

"Heh heh… Sorry…" Naruto sheepishly grinned as Sakura started on her hair. 'I just hope Konoha will accept us for who we are now.' Naruto thought, not exposing any of her emotions of doubt and sorrow across her face and eyes. She knew how hard it was just for her to get the life she had for the pass thirteen years. She just didn't want her teammates and extra company to loss hope.

Angel

"Dang it! Where the heck are those three gaki!?" Senju Tsunade shouted in fury as Hatake Kakashi and Jiraiya wondered if they should run as it seemed like the fires of the underworld were coming off of the Fifth Hokage.

"Come down, Lady Tsunade. We'll find them sooner or later… Hopefully, sooner." The Hokage's assistant and student Shizune sighed while holding her pig TonTon.

"That's not why I am so pissed off!!" Tsunade growled while slamming her fist onto the desk, causing the mountains of paperwork to fall off. "What I'm pissed off about is the fact the civilian part of the council is putting their noses where it shouldn't be and made it so I can send ninja to find where the heck Naruto and his two teammates went!"

"Lady Tsunade…" Shizune looked down. She knew Tsunade saw Naruto as a sibling, maybe even a son, so she didn't know how to tell her everything was alright. Everyone's attention, however, was shifted when a knock came onto the Hokage's Office door.

"E-Excuse me, Hokage-sama." A nurse who worked at the hospital in Konoha from time to time came into the room.

"What is it?" Tsunade growled as the very well tanned woman with dark hair stood before her.

"…I-I think I might know where Uzumaki Naruto is." The woman sighed while pulling out a strange device. It looked like some sort of plasic computer with a small keyboard, which was very weird as the only computers the ninja ever saw was large and bulky.

"What is that?" Tsunade asked as everyone was on guard in the room.

"It's a device Naruto personally made to give the Hokage if he ever disappeared and it was clearly not by ninja means. I'm not going to give my real name, but I also can't give you a lot of information. That's Naruto's decision to tell you the other reason Naruto wishes to become Hokage. I will tell you that Naruto is not the Uzumaki Naruto you believe he is."

"What!? How could that be?! I was with Minato the night Naruto was born!!" Jiraiya shouted.

"Yes, however, you were not near the mother when the people who likely 're-abducted' Naruto when they forced into premature labor and the Naruto you know saw what happen and the fact the infant born was a stillborn. Naruto used his ability to change his form at will to become the Uzumaki Naruto that was supposed to be born so that the infant's mother would not be able to know her infant had died just before she died herself. However, before Naruto could change back to his original form, he was picked out to become the Kyuubi container and ended up living here at least with some safety from the people he ran away from."

"S-So, Naruto isn't my sensei's son?" Kakashi asked in shock.

"Hai. Though, ironically, both Naruto's have the same exact real name as Naruto's real parents was an Uzumaki merchant and an ill merchant man who died shortly after Naruto's real birth and abduction." The woman sighed while handing the device to the Hokage. "The people who probably kidnapped Naruto and his two teammates probably took them to one of the Schools where they keep people like Naruto. The only reason they would do that instead of killing the other two is because they also must have a connection to the Schools without knowing it."

"So, what are these Schools? I know it's not a place of education from how stupid Naruto acts." Tsunade sighed.

"…Everyone's worst nightmare." The woman sighed. "I wouldn't have believed it if I had not seen it myself… If you think Orochimaru's experiments on humans were horrible, then you don't even know the extent of what the School does."

"Y-You mean… They are being experimented on?" Tsunade's face completely drained of all color. However, the device that the woman had handed her began to vibrate and ring. "Huh!?" Tsunade grabbed the object and pushed a few buttons as the device showed it had a message and the message popped onto the screen for her eyes to widen as everyone but the woman crowded around her to see it.

Yo, Baa-chan!

If you are reading this, then the software I made works at interdimensional communication and also my teammates and I are alright with the included guest of Sasuke's brother. Before freaking, he's innocent of his crime of murdering his best friend and was forced to kill the Uchiha clan by the council. Now, I bet you're furious as to not knowing where my friends and I are at and what the heck has happened… I can't tell you much right now as even though I made these devices pretty well secure, I am not going to take chances. The most I can tell you is that we were all-yes, even Itachi-was kidnapped by an organization call School that spans over two worlds: a more technologic world known as Earth and our world known as Gaia. I don't know what their objective is except it involves the genetic screwing of humans to get similar powers to that of bloodlines. I'm one of their so-called Subjects known as Subject Thirteen and I'm sorry for stealing the real Uzumaki Naruto's identity even though we had the same real name. However, you need to keep an eye out on the hospital as it seems the School had a new project that they are trying to collect up the subjects they made from which the three others who are with me are a part of. But, we have the lovely problem of being suck on Earth after escaping the School we were transferred to. Why? Because the Schools mainly operate in Earth because the people there is not as aware of their surrounds as Gaia. We will try to get home, but could you possibly get Itachi's crimes wiped away? After I kind of cornered Itachi into a mental corner and he told Sasuke the truth, I really don't want to ruin the reunited brother relationship. I hope it's not too long till I see you again as I think of you as my grandma… And probably the only doctor I will probably be able to fully trust.

From Naruto

P.S. If I find out Jiraiya or Kakashi puts porn on this device thanks to the internet connect I have to Earth, I will skin them alive, have you heal them up before dumping them into the woman hot springs after sending out free hot spring tickets to the most violent woman in Konoha and give them free weapons to boot before castrating them.

"…" Both Jiraiya and Kakashi were pale as their hands went to their lowers at the thoughts of their student doing that.

"…That brat…" Tsunade sighed, somewhat relieved Naruto was alright, but mad at the blond at being so carefree… But, maybe the blond's mind was possibly a bit weird if it was true the blond was an experiment. "Hey, how-" All four ninja sweated when they saw the nurse was gone. "…Wow… Oh, well, I'll figure out how to send Naruto a message with this… I think…"

Angel

"Naruto are you sure we should go to this other School? Wouldn't it be better to find another way?" Sakura asked, playing with her now red hair as the four were flying. She was kind of shocked to find everything was so different so high in the sky. It was probably one of the few up sides of being a genetic freak with wings.

"Sadly, this world has too many fake ways of ninjutsu and other chakra means to tell from the real stuff, so there is no possible way for us to find a way through ninjutsu form. The only other way is through the machines they use to keep ninjas from sensing them crossing over the dimensional barriers. Worst, once they get through with my fake trails, those Erasers will be on our tails like moths to flames. Hence why we got to hurry and get to our world. Since the Schools are more based to here, there is a better chance of escaping in our world than this world… Well, unless you go into hiding, but even then the chances of fully escaping are slim." Naruto sighed spinning around. "But, I missed my wings… Not being able to fly… I made me feel empty… But, I'm sorry I got Sasuke and you turned into freaks like me."

"…It's alright… I probably would have done something stupid like left the village to kill Itachi and oddly enough this stupid curse mark I had also went away." Sasuke sighed, rubbing his shoulder as he kind of gotten a little too used to that mark, but that feeling would go away as it was always a nuisance. "But, Naruto, you have powers thanks to being a mutant, so is it possible for us to have them as well."

"Possibly one power, but that's usually it. Sometimes two or three may come up as well. However, they are usually not all the well too useful." Naruto shivered, zipping up her jacket. 'Man… Is it me or it got colder?'

"Well, one thing I am glad for is they corrected my sight." Itachi said while flying up to the group. He was wearing a gray hoodie with black jeans and black tennis shoes as Naruto called the shoes. Sasuke was wearing a black coat with a purple shirt, blue jeans, and white and black tennis shoes. Sakura was wearing a pink coat with a red shirt with white stripe, a short blue jean shirt with black legging pants and pink, red, and white tennis shoes. "Down side, I can't active the Mangenkyou Sharingan anymore, but I say good ridden to it as it destroys my sight."

"Really!?!" Sakura gasped as Sasuke moved away from the loud redhead.

"Yeah…" Itachi sighed while sweating. _"Yesh, that was loud..."_

"Nani!?! What did you just say!?" Sakura glared at Itachi.

"Huh!?" Itachi only blinked. _"Did she just read my mind!?" _Itachi thought as Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widen.

"Heh heh! We got a sender!" Naruto laughed as Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Oh… There are technically two types of telepathy. One is reading minds or receiving and the other is sending which is delivering messages into someone's head or even influencing people. You probably have both ways like me."

_"So, basically you all can hear my thoughts?"_ Itachi thought, experimenting.

"Yep. I heard that." Sakura sighed.

"Great… There goes my privacy. And the one thing that kept me from insulting my fangirls…" Itachi sighed while slumping.

"Yeah… Oh, if you need a way to keep people from hearing your thoughts, you just need to concentrate to form sort of a barrier. The same if you want to hear other people's thoughts. But, if that doesn't work, I'll buy you a cheap MP3 player and mod it to get some music you like to help drown out the thoughts of other people… But, it seems you're a Subject as well." Naruto sighed.

"A Subject?" Itachi asked.

"Yeah. I'm Subject Thirteen. Any experiments that show psychic powers are instantly labeled Subjects as they could develop even more powers. If I remember correctly as it's really rare, you could be Subject Ten."

"Huh? That's not right. Shouldn't he be fourteen?" Sakura frowned at Naruto.

"The experiment system goes up in the number scale while Subjects go backwards from one hundred because of how rare it is to find one and it is usually added to the barcode of that experiment and goes back to hundred once zero is reached. I remember with the little bit of info I did managed to get out of the heads of the whitecoats back at the School we were in that there was a Subject Eleven who escaped four years ago with a group of other mutants of the same type. They are currently trying to locate him or her as well."

"… It must be so hard… To be so different and being chased because of it…" Sakura frowned while looking down.

"It's better than being experimented on in the school. All the years of loneness I spent as the container of the Kyuubi is nothing compared to the feeling I had being locked up in a cage and in fear." Both of Naruto's teammates looked at Naruto with shock. "It's better to be free and on the run then being locked up and awaiting death."

"…" Sasuke gripped his fists before relaxing. "Naruto, is it possible for us to find these other mutants and bring them with us back to our world and Konoha?" All three looked at Sasuke who had a determined look in his eyes. "You said it was easier to get away in our world, so why not also help out others like us."

"…It's not that easy…" Naruto sighed. "We could be caught and them as well."

"What are you talking about!?!" Sasuke shouted, shocking Naruto. "You are always risking you life to help others! How can you just leave people who knows what you have gone through to be hunted and killed!? This is you! The real you wouldn't play it so safe! The real you would charge forward and never look back!!"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura whined as she never seen Sasuke in such fury.

"…" Naruto let out a sigh. "I guess since I always had to take care of myself and be so careful in this form, I never thought the same as being a blond normal human with a fox in the gut… Now that I was back to normal, I just wanted to get back to Konoha with the two people I trusted the most and to safety." Naruto grinned at her teammates. "Alright! It's time for Mission: Mutant Rescue!"

"Hm… That's the Naruto I know." Sasuke sighed.

"Hey, Itachi, catch me in a minute." Naruto sighed.

"Heh!?" Itachi and the two pre-teens looked at Naruto in shock before the blond spread her arms out and sent a massive ESP wave that covered miles and went through all the thoughts before catching one.

'_Thanks, Ella… Thank you both, for everything… Angel, I'm on my way at last…'_ Naruto got the connected memories to that thought before collapsing and falling out of the sky before Itachi caught her.

"Pant… I know where she is… She had been captured by the School we are heading just as her flock is heading the same ways." Naruto panted, very exhausted.

"What the heck did you just do and what the heck do you mean by flock!?" Sakura shouted in worry.

"I just read the minds over everyone within over one thousand miles…" Naruto groaned as her stomach roared and she wrapped her arms around Itachi neck to help him balance. "I'm so hungry…"

"We just ate a couple of hours ago!" Sakura shouted only to blush as her stomach growled as well.

"Doesn't matter… We have to eat more to maintain our body's thanks to the extra muscles and high metabolism… Why did you think I ate so much before?" Naruto whined. "I want something to eat! Next town, dumpster dive at a fast food restaurant!" Naruto cheered as everyone shivered.

"Ewww…" Sasuke paled. That was totally grossed in the Uchiha's book.

"Hey! You'll be amazed how fresh stuff is in a dumpster and all the good food they waste in this world and ours. That, or you find a gas station with no camera!" Naruto puffed her cheeks out.

"A gas station?" Itachi blinked before seeing something down below. "Wait, you mean that?" Itachi pointed at an old building with some kind of metal roof where vehicles similar, but more metallic, Team Seven saw before in certain countries in their world.

"Yes! And its old, so no camera! Down now!!" Naruto shouted while Itachi sweated.

"Are you always thinking of your stomach?" Sasuke sighed as they began to descend near a forest so they could pull their wings through the holes Naruto made in the coats and get something to ear.

Ch.1 End

Okay, here's my question. What powers should Naruto and the gang have? You can suggest your own powers, but here's a list here to choose from as well.

Naruto: Kotodama user(make stuff with words she says), astral projection (pushing soul out of body and can possess other people), intangibility(go though walls and other solid objects),telekinesis(moving stuff with mind), aerokinesis (air and wind verison of pyrokinesis), and psychic empathy(feel other's emotions)

Sasuke:lighting verison of pyrokinesis(Izzy and Gasman's favorite), pyrokinesis(another Izzy and Gasman's favorite) superhuman speed, remote viewing(basically seeing things far away like seeing something hundreds of miles away), and Illusion-pyschic powered verison of genjutsu like the Tsukuyomi and you all know who is going to be Sasuke's first victim if he gets this.)

Sakura:immune to toxins(self-explaining), superstrengh, astral projection, and x-ray vision(kind of like the Byakugan, but she can only use it for a short time and can't see chakra)

Itachi: Illusion(to replace the Mangenkyou Sharingan and Tsukuyomi), telekinesis, remote viewing, and gravity control(since we all know Itachi is a defense guy, why not make it so he can make the baddie hit the ground?).

Alright, now review to sumbit your answer or to just tell me what you think of this story! Also, tell me if you want me to add more powers to the Maximum Ride cast and I will think about doing that depending on the power(I can't give them too many powers at once or it will not be so exciting). Now, review!


	2. Chapter 2 Back To School and Out!

Ch.2 "Back To School and Out!"

Disclaimer-I own nothing!

Yo! I wrote this chapter out, but decided to let it sit for a bit as I had some major events come up. Now, from the few reviews I got, I noticed a problem. Everyone is asking me to give Naruto and the gang all the powers I listed which are re-listed at the end of this story. Well, the problem is I can't as I would make them more powerful than I want them to be as well as-small spoiler-I already have some powers already up and ready to go as the ones listed are for later and I am letting you guys choose which ones make the cut. But, enjoy the story as I decided to fuse Maximum Ride completely prefect to my story in plot with adding in Naruto and the gang and follow the Maximum Ride plot for a bit before fully getting into my original plot so I can get use to Jame Patterson's writing style as I found it fits this story better than my usual style.

Max's POV

Hi, I', Max, short of Maximum. And I am currently mentally hitting my head against a pole in my head for a stupid mistake a made and lost valuable time to save my baby Angel… Oh, yeah, almost forgot, Angel is part of my flock and is the sweetest girl ever. I see her like my daughter which is why my flock. The flock is my family. Gasman is the second youngest and the only one who is related by blood to Angel in the flock. Word of warning, he got his name for a reason. I always got to watch over his best man in crime Iggy and him as those two are always getting in trouble, usually with some kind of explosive. Nudge is the third youngest and _loves_ to talk. Once she gets started, it's Nudge Channel all the time. Then there is Iggy. He's blind, but he deals with it, though I think he complains about it a little too much as he adapted a bit more then he realizes. And, last, is my right wing man Fang. He is anti-social and moves around like a ninja, but he at least helps me keep order in this family.

As for me? I am Maximum Ride, just your average fourteen year mutant… Yeah, I just said mutant. All of my flock has wings on our backs, including me. Over four years ago, we escape a place, which is anybody's worst nightmare, called the School. The whitecoats there created us and experiment on us till we escape, but now they have Angel and we have to go back there to save her. However, we are also on the run from the Erasers. Half-lupine, half-human mutants that are all hunting instinct… And one is Jeb's son seven year old Ari… Jeb is the whitecoat that helped us escape the School who disappeared a while back from us… However, our major focus now is getting to the School and saving Angel before they do anything horrible to little Angel.

However, now we were all trying to figure out how to get to the School. We already stole some money from a jerk who Ari happened to scare off, which is one of the only times in my life I was happy to see an Eraser as well as stole a car. But, now we were wondering what to do next. If you can say going into a fast food restaurant to plan what to do next was a good idea… But, beggars can't be choosers and we were hungry.

"I want my room to smell like this." Iggy inhaled deeply as the scents of flame-broiled burgers and hot French fries wafted around us.

"It would be an improvement," I agreed reading the menu board. My stomach felt like it was trying to digest itself. I was shaky with tension and adrenaline, and felt like I was going to come apart at the seams.

The fast-food restaurant was crowded and jarringly noisy. All of us felt nervous when we were around regular people. We shuffled into line, trying to be inconspicuous. As far as I could tell, no one here was an Eraser… But of course Erasers looked pretty normal-until they start morphing and tried to bite your head off.

"I don't eat meat anymore," Nudge announced. At my uncomprehending stare, she said, "Not after seeing the hawks go through rabbits and snakes and other birds. It's just icky."

Fang stepped up and ordered three double cheeseburgers, a chocolate shake, a soda with caffeine _and_ sugar, three fries, three apple pies.

"Feeding a crowd?" the woman behind the counter asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Fang said sweetly.

_Yeah, him and all his split personalities,'_ I thought. I turned back to Nudge. "Okay," I said, reaching _deep_ into my well of leaderly patience. "But you still need lots of protein."

Iggy ordered the same thing as Fang, and I paid for him. Fang waited for him to get his food and unobtrusively led him to the most private booth.

"Um, let's see," I said, stepping up. "Could I have two fried-chicken sandwiches, two double cheeseburgers, four fries, six apple pies, two vanilla shakes, one strawberry shake, and then two triple cheeseburgers, only hold the hamburger?"

"You mean, just cheese on the bun? No meat?" the woman at the register asked.

"Yes. That would be great." I looked over at Nudge, who nodded.

I was about to faint from hunger, and smelling all the food was killing me. Standing beside me, the Gasman was shifting from foot to foot, looking eager, It seemed like a lifetime before we got our three loaded trays, paid, and joined Fang and Iggy in the back. Another glance around showed happy families, kids blowing straw wrappers, women talking together, and teens hanging out. I sat down warily, and Nudge slid in next to me. The Gasman squeezed in next to her.

Am I tough? Am I strong? Am I hardcore? Absolutely.

Did I whimper with pathetic delight when I sank my teeth into my hot fried-chicken sandwich? You betcha…… In fact, we looked like starving orphans children, but technically we were. It reminded me of the meals I had at Ella and her mom's place when my eyes widen when I noticed a group of four sitting next to our booth. The fact there was two good looking, no, model looking people was in sat group. And they were tall… Never a good sign.

"Naruto… Slow down, if you keep eating that fast, you'll choke." I was shocked to see two younger teens with the tall models and then saw the tallest was a strawberry blond girl who could have been Iggy's twin if she didn't have dark skin like Nudge and had strange scars on her cheeks. "Isn't that right…" I noticed that both of the older ones were stuffing their faces and I had to guess the younger dark hair kid never knew the other dark hair guy eat that much before so fast.

"… I don't like crowded place like this… Eat and let's get out of here." The strawberry blond sighed. I had to agree with her. I didn't like being in crowded places, either.

"I agree with Naruto. We need to get out of here as quickly as possible." And now I was looking at a Fang look alike. However, the lookalike was paler than fang and looked to be the younger dark hair boy's brother. Yet, now this was getting weird. Usually, someone was only paranoid when someone is after them… Like the flock and I as an example as we are running from the School.

Then the strawberry blond looked at me and our eyes connected. I looked away, feeling like an idiot for staring. _Note to self: Learn to not stare at others._

_"Well, hello Maximum Ride."_ My eyes widen and I looked at the strawberry blond who was smirking.

_No freaking way… It must have been my imagination. _I thought.

_"Nope. I am sending you mental messages, Max. But, man, this was convenient. We don't have to look for you."_ I looked forward, keeping a straight face. I did not need my flock knowing a person nearby was talking to me through our minds.

_'Why are you looking for me?'_ I thought. I just hope the blond was the answering type.

_"To help. My friends and I are mutants, too… Don't worry, avian mix."_ That raised my hopes a little. But, I still couldn't trust a complete stranger. _"We know of a sort of somewhat safe place, but we have to find one of the Schools that have the way to get there… But, before that, we got to save your little girl."_

_'How do you know of Angel?'_ I thought, wondering how much the blond knew.

_"I read your mind a couple of hours ago trying to figure out where your group was at with my ESP wave… Basically, I read a lot of minds in a wide area at once and also went in depth to some of your memories… But, I am not going to go into detail so close to a School… Eraser territory…"_

I gave a small nod. If this berry head was as strong of a psychic as she says… Then it would explain her worries. However, we both tensed as we realized our neck muscles were tensing and the berry head lean back in her chair as I glanced to Fang, who was looking at me sideways while he ate his French fries. _I knew that look._ Acting _tres _casual, I glanced around again. The couple of families who'd been sitting close by were gone. Now it looked as if a bunch of male models had suddenly gotten the munchies. They were surrounding us, _tables of them._ All good-looking, thick-haired guys with big pretty eyes and the voices of angels… Oh, man. My stomach dropped like a wheelbarrow full of lead.

_"You got a ride?"_ The mutant on the other table asked through mental link, drinking a chocolate shake.

_'Yeah.' _I thought back. I had a feeling we had four hitchhikers coming along with them, and right now I believe the extra help would be quite nice.

_"Good… I'll cause a distraction." _I noticed she gave very slight movements, probably focusing her abilities to tell her flock orders. Wish I had that little skill.

I gave Fang an almost imperceptible nod and glanced back at the fire exit door behind him. He blinked to show he understood. Then he tapped Iggy's hand.

"Nudge," I said under my breath. "Gazzy. Don't look up. In three seconds, jump over Fang and out that exit door." Giving no sign they had hear me, Nudge and Iggy kept chewing. Nudge causally took a sip of her shake. Then, in a burst, she leaped up, sprang off the table, and practically crashed through the exit door. The Gasman was practically glued to her back…. I was so proud of them.

The alarm started clanging, but I was right behind them-and Fang and Iggy along with the four other mutants were on my heels. Then I heard a small boom and heard the howling of Erasers and saw some funny looking smoke coming out of the fast-food place from the corner of my eyes. We made it to the van before the Erasers were out the door, and for a good reason. The berry head unleashed a major stink bomb that was probably killing the Erasers within its grips.

Inside, I jammed the key into the ignition and cranked the engine. Erasers, the one's probably close to the door and was able to escape the cloud of death, were swarming into the parking lot, already starting to become wolflike. I stomped on the gas and reversed fast, crying out when we felt the thunk of an Eraser being hit. Then I yanked the gear stick into _D_ and we roared over the curb, right through the shrubs that lined the parking lot. The tires squealed as I careened out into traffic, causing a bunch of angry honking from other cars. I cut right through a gas station on the corner, narrowly avoiding hitting several cars. On the other side, roared back into traffic.

_"Max!"_ Nudge screamed, but I had seen the semi-trailer too, and swerved out of its way at the last second. Behind me, I heard the crunch of metal as the truck scraped a car. Then I was weaving in and out of traffic, wishing I knew how to drive better wishing we had stolen something besides a van.

"It's so bulky!" I cried in frustration as we teetered on two wheels again just turning a corner. Okay, turning fast. But still.

"It's a _van_," Fang, as though blaming me for not stealing a race car.

"Red light!" Berryhead, my temporary nickname for the strawberry blond mutant, shouted as I saw the light ahead of me at a four way intersection had turned red. I heard a curse behind me before I saw all of the lights to imploded, stopping the traffic and allowing me to get through without fearing of getting hit.

"O-kay… Sasuke, remind me later to teach you how to control your concentration as telekinesis is a very deadly skill." Berryhead sighed while being pale. I had to guess that one of her flock just learned a new skill. However, Berryhead hissed a curse. "Duck!"

The word duck was good advice as the back windshield broke as bullets flew through. Berryhead had her arm up and tensed it to form sort of a fleshy shield-a pretty affective one at that-to protect me as I could keep driving.

"Aiiiee!!!" The red hair, wearing a lot of pink girl that was with the other mutant group screamed before the bullets stopped and I was shocked to find we now had some kind of invisible barrier blocking the bullets from what I see through the rear mirror. I guess Angel will be so happy to find out she isn't the only psychic mutant around anymore.

"Hey, Sakura! Keep your concentration up!" Berryhead chimed, probably very happy to stop getting bullets in her body. But, either Berryhead was telling the truth she wanted to help me or she was just crazy to take bullets for another person… It was possibly mainly the latter. We sped out of town-I had to get away from all this traffic. My adrenaline was pumping, my arms felt like corded cables on the steering wheel. _We had to ditch this van!_

"I'm gonna stop!" I yelled over the noise of the engine. "Jump out and get in the air as fast as you can!"

"Okay!" the flock, including the four new mutants, yelled back. I was glad we all agreed on that. A glance in the rearview mirror showed three black cars following us, catching up to us. They were going a lot faster than we were. I had to buy time. Gritting my teeth, I swung off road suddenly, right into a field of corn. We plowed through the dry stalks, wincing as they smacked the windshield. I tried to zigzag as best I could, and then a bit of light up ahead made me hopeful for a road. I didn't see anything in the rearview mirror, and the sound of crunching cornstalks was too loud for me to hear other engines. Had we lost them? And yes, here was a road! Excellent!

The van tumbled heavily out onto the road, with bone-jolting bumps. As soon as the front tires hit asphalt, I gunned the motor again-

"Watch out!!!" Berryhead shouted just as a sedan leaped out in front of us. I hit it head-on at sixty miles an hour… I never knew I kid could fly so fast through a windshield without the assistance of wings as I saw Berryhead go before my vision got hit by white and pain covered my face.

_Note to self: Disable the air bags on the next car you steal…And have everyone wear seat belts._

The thing about airbags is that when you hit something at fifty or sixty miles an hour, they inflate with enough raw force to slam you back against your seat like a rag doll, possibly breaking your face. Which is what this one had done to me, I concluded, trying to stem the gush of blood from my nose. I saw Berryhead get up several feet away and did a thumb-ups to show she was alright, probably knowing I was worried I just killed her, though her head was bloody red from gashes on her head. Make me wonder if the girl had some freaky inhumane defense against pain or something like that.

"Report," I called weakly.

"Okay here," Fang said next to me. His neck was scraped raw by the seat belt, which had almost decapitated him. It made me wonder which was better: getting decapitated by seatbelt or getting launched like a rocket through the windshield?

"Okay here," Nudge said from the backseat, sounding young and scared. I craned around to see her. She was pale like the younger dark hair mutant and red hair girl mutant, except where her forehead was bruised from hitting Fang's seat. Her eyes widened with shock when she saw my bloody face as did the red head.

"It's just my nose," I quickly assured both. "Head wounds always bleed a lot. Look, it's stopping." A lie… And probably the same for Berryhead.

"I feel like, like pudding," Iggy groaned as the older dark hair mutant and he helped each other up some as they ended up thrown to the side in the far back seat, having squished Gazzy between them trying to protect him. "Pudding with nerve endings. Pudding in great pain."

"Agreed," the dark hair older mutant grunted. "Add-on… Pudding seeing spots thanks to concussion… It makes me wish those so-called whitecoats did not fix my failing vision." For once, I saw Iggy nodding in agreement of being thankful for not being able to see.

"I feel sick," the Gasman said, his face white, lips pale and bloodless.

-CRASH!-

All around us, windows smashed, and we jumped and threw our arms over our faces. I saw a gun hammering at the glass, then hairy hands with ragged claws popped the doors open. There was no time even to get a good kick in-Fang and I were hauled out of the van and thrown to the ground.

"Run!" I bawled, then hissed in a breath as my nose took another jarring blow. I glanced up in time to see the rear doors of the van open and Iggy and the Gasman shoot into the air along with the two younger mutants from Berryhead's group, though they were tossed literally out of the back first. A rush of pure joy made me beam, then gag as fresh blood ran into my mouth.

I spit it out as the Erasers roared with fury and started shooting at the three boys and girl. But Iggy and Gazzy continued to soar into the air with the other two as Berryhead and the other older mutant attacked the Erasers who were shooting to give the younger ones a better chance to escape. Two of them almost got engulf by flames and I had to guess if my memory serves me right, the dark hair mutant has pyrokenisis as he did nothing but glare at the Erasers for them to burn before he was shocked by his power. Hopefully, Angel never gets such a power like that.

A kicking and shrieking Nudge was yanked from the back of the van and tossed down next to me. Tears were in her eyes, and I reached out to hold her. An Eraser kicked me hard with his hand-sewn Italian boot. _Ow!_

"Tag. You're it," Ari cracked, and the others laughed, even though two of them were still fighting with the other two mutants, almost dancing with monstrous excitement and glee. Especially when Berryhead and her pal got hit by stun gun and fell to the ground before getting a major beating. "It's almost like you don't _want_ to go back to School," he went on, showing his razor-sharp yellow teeth, dripping Eraser drool on me.

There were five Erasers and five of us, but two were now out for the count thanks to getting knocked out, so technically three of us. I'm weirdly, incredibly strong for my size, but Ari outweighted me by about one hundred sixty pounds, and he kept his booted foot pressed hard against my forehead. I just wanted a shot at him-just one lethal, brain-splattering shot.

I met Fang's eyes, which were dark and expressionless, and then Nudge's. I tried to give her a reassuring smile, but since my face was one big gore-fest, it didn't have the cheering effect I'd hoped for. Then we all heard the horrible _whup, whup _of a chopper headed our way, and the Erasers started to shout and wave their arms.

"What a touching scene," Ari called down at me. "We're all going home. Just like old times."

Angel

When I woke up after blacking out, I heart was filled with joy. _Angel was alive._ As long as she was, I could deal with just about anything else. I knew she was alive because I could see her in the pitiful cage next to mine. If we pushed our fingers through our bars as hard as we could, we were an inch away from actually touching each other.

"At least they gave you a _big _crate," she said in a small, raspy voice. "I'm in a _medium._" My throat closed up. That she was still trying to be brave just rocked my world. I felt ashamed for taking so long to get here, ashamed for letting the Erasers catch us, ashamed for being a failure, even as a freak.

"It's not your fault," she said, reading my thoughts. She looked just terrible. Her eyes were hollow and her face was a bruise going yellow and green at the edges. Angel looked thin and dry, like a leaf, her blonds as delicate as stems. Her feathers were limp and dirty.

Across the aisle from us, Nudge and Fang were in crates of their own. Nudge looked really shaky, trying to get her fear under control but losing the fight. Fang sat with his hands clasped around his knees, not moving. He'd smiled at Angel when he'd first seen her, but mostly he looked cool, removed, distant. He was retreating into himself, the only place left to retreat to.

Then, I found where Berryhead and her flockmate was at, which was actually on the other side of where my cage was as Angel was on the other side. They were in metal cages made for median-size(close to adult human size), but dangerous wild animal. Nothing like the Kanine Kamper cages they were in. Their cages were made of steel and could probably survive being bite by mutant sharks. The dark hair mutant was in some kind of daze, as if he was still under the influence of some kind of drug while Berryhead was sitting up and panting. I wondered what happened to them both while I was out.

_"We got experimented on while we all were out…Don't worry… It was just Itachi and me that got experimented on…Though I can't even remember what they did to him and me except for some injects, so at least that's a plus."_ Berryhead pushed her thoughts into my head which was aching, but I just nodded to show I understood.

"I'm sorry, Max," Angel whispered, her eyes troubled. "This is all my fault."

"Don't be dumb," I told her, sounding Elmer Fuddish because of my clogged and broken nose. "It could happen to any of us. And it's _my_ fault that Fang, Nudge, Berryhead, her friend, and I got caught."

"Berryhead?" Berryhead asked before shrugging. "Hn… I got nicknamed worst." She dropped it to let me have my emotional moment. All around me, the smells of cold metal and antiseptic were awakening horrible memories I had buried deep a long time ago. Flashes of light, pain, and fear kept popping inside my head, making me feel a little crazy. My nose finally stopped bleeding, but it hurt. My headache was back-big time-and I was seeing flashes of the strangest images. What was _that _all about? I noticed Berryhead also seemed to have similar problems…

"Max, there's something I have to tell you." Angel started to cry.

"Shh," I said soothingly. "It can wait. Just rest. Try to feel better."

"No, Max, it's really important-" A door opened, and loud footsteps sounded on the linoleum tile. Angel's eyes were panicked in her bruised little face. Fury ignited in me that _anything, anyone,_ could make a little girl so afraid. I coiled my muscles, narrowing my eyes and putting my fiercest look. Berryhead also was joining in as it seems she also had a nerve for guys who make little girls cry. They were going to be sorry they ever picked Angel to mess with. They were going to be sorry they'd ever been _born._

My hands clenched into fists. I crouched in my crate, ready to spring at whoever opened it so I could rip their lungs out. I'd start with Ari, the creep of creeps. Angel was hunched over now, crying silently, and inside I started freaking, wondering what on earth they had done to her. I totally wired on adrenaline, just _nuts._

A pair of legs stopped right in front of my rate. I could see the edges of a white lab coat brushing the knees. He bent down and looked into my crate with a gentle, rueful expression. My heart almost stopped, and I fell backward off my heels.

"Maximum Ride," said Jeb Batchelder. "Oh, I've missed you so much."

_I'm hallucinating, _I thought dazedly. _I'm having an out-of-body experience. _Everything else in my vision faded away. I could see only Jeb, smiling at me through the bars of my dog crate.

Jeb had been the only parentlike person I'd ever had. He had kidnapped the six of us four years ago, stolen us away from this freak show and hidden us in the mountains in our home. He'd helped us learn how to fly-none of us had ever been allowed enough space to try before. He'd fed us, clothed us, and taught us survival skills, how to fight, how to read. He'd told jokes and read stories and let us play video games. He'd made us dinner and tucked us in at night. Whenever I'd felt afraid, I'd remind myself that Jeb was there and that he would protect us, and the I'd always feel better.

Two years ago, he'd disappeared… We'd always _known_ he'd been killed. We'd _known _that he would have died rather than disclose our location. That he died trying to protect us. That kind of thing… For the last two years, we'd all missed Jeb so much, with a horrible, aching, wailing pain that just wouldn't stop. You know-like if your dad or mom died. It had been so awful in the beginning, when he hadn't come home, and then when we'd had to accept that he never would. Dead or alive, he's been my hero. Every day. For the last four years.

Now my eyes were telling me that he was one of _them_. That maybe he'd been one of them all along. That everything I'd known or felt about him had been a rotten, stinking lie. Now Angel's words, her fear, her tears, made horrible sense. She'd known. I was dying to look at her, at Fang or Nudge, to see their reactions. I just wouldn't give him that satisfaction. Like a door slamming, everything in me that loved and trusted Jeb closed down. In its place rose new feeling that were so powerful and full of hate that they scared me… Which is saying something.

Suddenly, to my shock, Jeb got hit in the head by a tennis shoe turn projectile and caught the second one that came after it. I looked over at Berryhead with sockless, shoeless feet and my eyes widen in shock as her eyes were full of tears and her face red with fury.

"Y-You!! How dare you mess with my feelings!!? I thought you died thirteen years ago!!" Berryhead screamed, causing everyone, okay, thing-except Jeb-to flinch from how high it was. It seems Jeb was a mutant's adopted father version of a cheater. That same fatherly smile came onto Jeb's face, but with the adding of lost joy in it as well.

"It's been a very long time, Jack Frost… I'm glad to see you as well… I thought I lost you thirteen years ago…"

Jack Frost?… Now, sure, my name is Maximum Ride, but I choose my last name after the female astronaut Sally Ride… But, Jack Frost was kind of unoriginal in my opinion.

"… You know what… How about I just rip you up and hang your entrails across this damn place like I done to others." Jack-Berryhead-growled as I shivered. I now get it… Jack is not for the myth character for the cold coming with winter… But, Jack _the Ripper._ A famous mass murder from Europe's past… I might need to keep an eye on her if she is that much of a killer.

"… I know you won't do that. You prefer hacking up Erasers and inexperienced scientists with whatever sharp object you can find to steal their food and leave the bodies once you gotten what you wanted." I sweated as Jack glared at Jeb. I could have sworn the strawberry blond was burning a hole into his lab coat, aimed for his heart… That is if glares were laser vision.

"I know both of you are surprised," he said with a smile. "Come on. I need to talk to you both." He unlatched my dog door and held it open. In a nanosecond, I had a plan of action: not to act. Just listen and watch. To absorb everything and give out nothing… Okay, as a plan, it wasn't the blueprint of Westminster Abbey, but it was a start. I noticed Jack must have read my mind and decided to go with as I saw her calmed down just a little. Slowly, I climbed out of my crate. My muscles groaned when I stood up as Jeb opened Jack's cage. I didn't look at any of the flock when I passed, but I put my right hand behind my back, two fingers together. It was our sign that said "Wait."…. Jeb had taught it to us.

Jeb, Jack, and I walked past a bank of computers, out of sight of the others. A door in the far wall led into a smaller, less lablike room furnished with couches, a table and chairs, a sink, microwave.

"Sit down, Max, Jack, please," he said, gesturing to a chair. "I'll get us some hot chocolate." He said it casually, knowing it was my favorite, as if we were in the kitchen back home. I noticed Jack was keeping an emotionless face, which kind of scared me from her comments from before.

"Max, I have to tell you-I'm so proud of you. The same for you, Jack," he said, putting mugs in the microwave. "I just can't believe how well you've both done. No, I _can_ believe it-I knew you could do it. But seeing both of you so healthy, so powerful, such good leaders, well, it makes me so proud." The microwave beeped, and he set a steaming mug on the table in front of me. We were in a top-secret facility in the middle of Death Valley, officially called "freaking nowhere" on the map, and yet he managed to produce marshmallows, plopping two into my cups and a whole bunch into Jack's with seventeen tablespoons of sugar. A dietetic's worst nightmare right there people. I looked at him steadily, ignoring the hot chocolate, which was making my stomach growl. However, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack doing the same except she took her cup and sniffed the contents before downing it all several gulps, never taking her eyes off of Jeb. That right there took a lot of skill as hers was foaming a lot from the sugar and yet none of it was on her face.

He paused as if to give both of us time to reply, then sat down across from both of us at the table. It _was_ Jeb-my brain finally accepted the inescapable truth. I recognized the fine pink scar on his jawline, the slight bend to his nose, the tiny freckle on his right ear. This was not his evil twin. It was him. _He _was evil.

"You must have so many questions," he said. "I don't know where to start. I just-I'm just so sorry about this. I wish I could explain-with I could have explained two years ago, to you Max and thirteen years ago to you Jack, if no one else. I wish I could explain what I'd give just to see you both smile."

_How about your head on a stick?_ Both Jack and I thought in unison as I heard her thoughts… Did she know that?

"But in time, Max, it will all come out, and you'll understand what's happening. That's what I told Angel. I told her that everything is a test, even when you don't know it. That sometimes you just have to do what you have to do and know it will all be clearer later. All of this has been a test." He waved his hand vaguely, as if to encompass my-as well as Jack's possibly-entire experience.

I sat there, conscious that my sweatshirt was crusted with blood, that my face hurt, that I was hungry again-_quelle surprise_-and I had never, ever wanted to kill anyone more, not even last summer when Iggy had shredded my only, favorite pair of non-Goodwill pants to make a fuse long enough to detonate something fifty feet away. I said nothing, had no expression on my face. However, for some reason I was seeing all these images that could make a book titled "One Hundred and One Ways to Kill Jeb Batchelder" and the sender was from Jack who also was emotionless.

He glanced at us, then at the closed door. "Max, Jack," he said, with a new tone of urgency in his voice. "Max, Jack, soon some people will come in to talk to you. But I need to tell you both something first."

_That you are the devil incarnate?_

"_More like the devil himself in flesh and blood." _Jack mentally put in my head and I agreed that sounded better.

"Something I couldn't tell you before, something I thought I'd have time to prepare you for later." He looked around, as if to make sure no one else could hear. Guess he was forgetting all our surveillance lessons, about hidden mikes and heat sensors that could see through walls, and long-distance listening devices that could pick up a rat squeeze from a half a mile away.

"The thing is, Max, Jack," he said, tons of heart-wringing emotion in his eyes, "you're both even more special than I always told you. You see, you were created for a _reason. _Kept alive for a purpose, a special purpose."

_You mean besides seeing how well insane scientists could graft avian DNA into a human egg? _A slight hint of joy went through Jack's eyes, showing wanted to laugh at that understatement of the year.

He took a breath, looking deep into our eyes. I coldly shut down every good memory I had of him, every laugh we'd shared, every happy moment, every thought he was like a dad to me.

"Max, Jack, that reason, that purpose is: You two are supposed to _save the world._"

Okay, I couldn't help it. My jaw dropped open. I shut it again quickly. Well, this would certainly give weight to my ongoing struggle to have the bathroom first in the morning. I looked over at Jack and saw her eyes were narrow and fury filled her eyes. She looked like she was about to shout her lungs out while pulling out Jeb's insides through his mouth, but she didn't make a move. I guess Jack must not like the idea of being made for saving the world.

"I can't tell you both much more than that right now," Jeb said, looking over his shoulder again. "But I had to let you know the size of what we're dealing with, the enormity, the importance. You are more than special, Max, Jack. You're both preordained. You have a destiny that you can't imagine."

_Maybe I can't imagine it because I'm not a complete nutcase._

"_He's an evil idiot." _I looked at Jack from the corner of my eye. _"There is no such thing as destiny. Sure, there are things you can't control, but you make your life from the choices you make!"_ I had to agree with Jack on that. If destiny was real, I would either be dead or in a zoo for display or even still an experiment at the School.

"Max, Jack, everything you've done, everything you are, everything you can be, is tied into your destiny. Your two lives are worth the lives of thousands. The fact that you both alive is the most important thing anyone has ever accomplished." If he was expecting a gushing response, he was gonna wait a long time. He sighed heavily, not taking his eyes off of us, disappointed at our lack of excitement over hearing that we were the messiah… Or is it messiahs as there is two of us?

"It's okay," he said with sad understanding. "I can barely imagine what you two must be feeling or thinking. It's okay. I just wanted to tell you myself. Later, others will come to talk to you. After you've had a chance to about this, to realize what it could mean for you and the others. But for now, don't say anything to the rest of the flock. It's our secret, Maximum, Jack. Soon the whole world will know, But not just yet." I was getting very good at saying nothing. He stood up and helped me from my chair, a solicitous hand under my elbow that made my flesh crawl. Jack got up on her own. We walked in silence back to the row of crates, and he unlatched mine and waited patiently for me to crawl inside. _Such a gentlemen._

Latching it behind me as Jack also was put back inside her own cage, he leaned down to give me one last meaningful look. "Remember," he whispered. "Trust me. That's all I ask. Just trust me. Listen to your gut."

Well, how many times had I heard him say _that?_ I wonder contemptuously as he walked away. Right now my gut was telling me I wanted to take out his lungs out with a pair of pliers and I could tell Jack wanted to do the same.

"You okay?" Angel asked anxiously, pressing her little face to the side of her cage. I nodded, and met Fang's and Nudge's eyes across the way.

"I'm okay. Every hang tough, all right?" I noticed Jack's pal was out of his drug stupor and looked at Jack with worry.

"I'm fine…" Jack sighed, but I could tell that Jack's friend was still worried. Nudge and Angel nodded, concerned, and Fang kept staring at me. I had no idea what he was thinking. Was he wondering if I was a traitor? Was he wondering if Jeb managed to turn me-or if I had been in league with Jeb from the beginning? The same for Jack?... He would find out soon enough.

Angel

Hours went by… In the dictionary, next to the word _stress_, there is a picture of a midsize mutant stuck inside a dog crate, wondering if her destiny is to be killed or to save the world… Okay, not really. But there should be. If you can think of anything more nerve-racking, more guaranteed to whip every fiber in your body up in a knot, you let me know.

I couldn't tell the others anything-not even in a whisper. If I amused Jeb to pretend that closed doors and lowered voices protected one against surveillance, that was fine. But I knew better. There could be cameras and mikes hidden anywhere, built into our crates and cages. So I couldn't go over a plan, offer reassurance, or even freak out and say "Oh, my God! Jeb is alive."

When Angel whispered, "Where are Gazzy and Iggy?" I shrugged. Her face fell, and I looked hard at her. _They got away. They're okay._

She read my thoughts, gave a tiny nod, then gradually slumped against the side of her crate much like Jack had done, but Jack was glaring at something I had to guess was a hidden camera. After that, all I could do was send meaningful glances… For hours… My headaches came back, and when I shut my eyes all these images danced on the back of my eye lids. I looked at Jack and noticed for some reason she was also having headaches… I made me wonder what the heck could be going on with our minds.

At one point a whitecoat came in a dumped another "experiment" into a crate next to mind, in fact it was the crate between Jack and me. I glanced over, curious, then quickly turned away, my heart aching. It looked enough like a kid to make me feel sick, but more like a horrible fungus. Huge pebbly growths covered most of its body. It had few fingers and only one toe, stuck onto the end of a foot like a pod. Senseless blue eyes looked at me, blinked.

I noticed Jack move and moved her hand out of her cage and easily crush a hole into the crate's side with her fist. I wondered what she was doing until I gasped when she grabbed the mutant's throat and crushed its neck with a powerful squeeze of her hand, killing it instantly. I was so furious at Jack for killing another mutant before noticing a tear going down the strawberry blond's face and whisker like marks. It was then I realized Jack didn't kill the mutant for nothing… The poor mutant would have been probably dead anyways within less of an hour, so she ended its suffering. However, I became horror-stuck and I looked across at Angel. She was crying… She knew.

Finally, much later, the door to the lab opened. A crowd came in, and I heard human voices and Eraserlike croons and laughs. They wheeled a big flatbed cart to our aisle.

"Oh, it's dead… Wait," a female noticed the side of the crate of the dead mutant between Jack and me. "Agh! Subject Thirteen done it again! I told those fools that it kills whenever it gets a chance!" The others ignored her as I looked at Jack quickly who just had an emotionless face on.

"I count only four from the original group," a man said in a prissy, concerned voice. "Two from the other."

"Two brought it," Ari said, sounding triumphant. "Back in Colorado. This is what's left. Same with the others." He kicked my cage, making the bars rattle. "Hi, Max. Miss me?"

"Is the Director quite sure about this?" a woman asked. "It seems a shame-there's so much more we can learn from them."

"Yes," said the fourth whitecoat. "It's just too risky. Given how uncooperative the little one has been." I caught Angel's eyes and gave her a thumbs-up, proud of her resistance. She sent me a weak grin back at me. "Plus, from the reports from the others, Subject Ten and Subject Thirteen have killer tendencies to the point Subject Ten killed almost all of his family without his mutations." I glanced over to Jack's friend and Jack to see them only giving the whitecoats an emotionless face.

_"Max… Itachi only killed his clan-his family-when the council which is the government where we both lived before getting recaptured made him kill his clan as they were planning to over the village we lived at… The clan was making such plans, but Itachi was backed into a corner and he knew he could not talk his clan out of it or the government… For me… I only kill in self-protection or other's protection… Where we both live, it is kind of unavoidable…"_ Jack spoke into my mind and I digested it… I decided to trust her. With all the knowledge I know on adults and government, it was plausible for something like that to happen.

Then Angel's cage was grabbed roughly and swung onto the cart like luggage. She winced as her bruised cheek hit the side, and fury flamed inside me again. In the next second, Ari grabbed my crate and swung me up next to her on the cart, letting me drop with a crash that made me bite my lip hard. Like I needed another head wound. He grinned through the bars, letting me see his long yellow fangs. "Strong like bull," he bragged.

"Your dad must be so proud," I said snidely, and he angered instantly, punching my cage so hard I almost toppled over.

"Easy," murmured a whitecoat, earning herself a murderous snarl from Ari as Jack and her friend got loaded onto the cart. Then two more Erasers loaded Nudge and Fang on next to us. With Ari trailing behind, looking angry, they pushed us through wide double doors. The hall outside was painfully bright and overlaid with the smells of floor cleaners and office machines.

Clutching the bars of my crate, I peered out, tryingto recognize a doorway, an office-anything that would tell me what section of the School we were in. The Erasers poked their fingers through our bars, trying to stratch us, taunting, literally rattling our cages. I wondered how much strength it would take to grab an Eraser finger and snap it… One almost lost said finger when Jack snapped at it with her teeth and almost got it… Key word being "almost."… We took a sharp left turn and got pushed through more double swinging doors, and then we were outside. I inhaled eagerly, but even outdoors at the School the air was tainted and foul.

Squinting, I shifted from side to side in my cage, looking for landmarks. Behind us was the lab building. Ahead of us, maybe a hundred yards away, was a low redbrick building. We were in the yard in the back of the School… The yard I used to look out at, in the dead of night, from our lab window. The yard where Erasers trained to bring down prey and tear it limb from limb… Which was probably why they were laughing…

The funny thing about facing imminent death is that it really snaps everything else into perspective. Like right now. My choices were to either give in and let them kill all of us or fight back with everything I had. I choose the second one, 'cause I'm just funny that way. In the spilt second I had to ponder what form my "fighting to the death" would take, a shadow blotted out the sun.

"Got your running shoes on, piggy?" Ari asked, pushing his hairy fingers through the bars of my cage and wiggling them. "Feeling like a little exercise? Wanna race? Wanna play food fight? You're the food!"

I grinned evilly, remembering before. Then I leaned over and chomped hard on Ari's fingers. He sucked in a deep breath, then yelled in awful pain. I gathered my strength and bit down harder, until I actually felt my teeth break his skin, tasted his horrible blood. But you know what? I didn't care. Seeing Ari hurt was worth it. After the car wreck, biting anything hurt majorly, but I shut out the pain and put every once of my fury into my aching jaws. Ari was shaking my cage, slamming it with his other hand, and my head was getting snapped around like a paddleball… But I hung on, thinking pit bull thoughts.

The whitecoats were yelling at me now. Still screaming, Ari began savagely kicking my cage. Suddenly, I unclenched my teeth and let go. His next kick smashed my crate sideways. It rolled over a couple of times. I landed upside down, right next to Angel's crate door. Being smarter than the average bear, it took me only a few seconds to unlatched it.

"Go!" I ordered. "Go! Don't argue!"

She edged her door opened and scrambled out just as Ari slammed down on top of my crate in a murderous rage. I braced myself as best I could, but he was tearing into the crate, roaring in pain. The crate tumbled sideways on the grass, and for just a split second, I caught a glimpse of the sky. It was streaked with dark, fast-moving storm clouds. Then I was batted upside down again, making me feel like laundry in a dryer. Ari was screaming furiously, calling me awful names and shaking his bleeding fingers so that flecks of gore spattered me through the bars.

But I was smiling now. My first really good smile in days… I knew what the storm clouds were. They were hawks-led by Iggy, the Gasman, and Jack's two younger flock members, who else? And they were storming the School to save us…. Call me crazy, but there's just something cheering about seeing huge raptors tear into Eraser flesh.

Just as Ari, ignoring the latch in his murderous rage, finally succeeded in ripping it open, he was dive-bombed by a hawk with razor-sharp talons and a huge grudge against wolves. As I popped out, I saw him swatting at it, screaming like a big weenie as the bird sliced into the back of his neck.

"Angel! Get out of here!" I yelled, racing to her. Two whitecoats were chasing her, but I got there first, I elbowed one out of the way, grabbed Angel's waist, and _threw _her up into the sky. I saw she threw something shining towards Jack and saw Jack catch some keys. Knowing that Jack was taken care of, I focused on the others. Then I managed to unlatched Fang's cage. The whitecoats fell on me, but a regular grown-up versus an angry Max doesn't stand a chance. I backhanded one across the jaw, feeling teeth knock loose. The other I kicked right under his double chin. His head jerked back, and he dropped like a brick. I saw Jack getting her friend out and kicking an Eraser right under the belt and heard a scream that could be passed off a little girl getting scared out of her mind coming from a werewolf. Which was a scary thought.

Fang burst out of his cage, then grabbed a whitecoat and slammed him against the cart. He drew back a first and punched, looking cold and determined. The whitecoat's eyes rolled back, and he crumpled. Getting to Nudge took no time. She tumbled out of her crate just as Iggy and the Gasman led their hawk swarm in for round two with Jack's two friends raining rocks they had at the Erasers.

Close by, one of the female whitecoats was struggling to her feet. I darted toward her, then jumped into the air, my right leg already swinging out in a huge roundhouse kick. I hit her in the chest, _wham!_ She sank to her knees, unable to breathe, a stunned look on her face.

"Think of this as an occupational hazard, you witch!" I snarled, then spun to check on the rest of the flock. Fang was venting his hostility on Ari, who crouched defensively on the ground, his arms wrapped around his head. Fang smashed him sideways with a kick, then punched the side of Ari's head. For good measure, Fang hoisted a crate and crashed it down on the wicked Eraser. Now it looked as though Ari had been caught in a cage.

I shot into the air, feeling exhilarated as fierce hawks rushed past me. I counted four whitecoats, Ari, and three other Erasers on the ground, two Eraser still standing. One of them pulled out a gun, but promptly had his wrist muscles slashed by an unforgiving beak. _Ooh! That had to hurt._

"Fang!" I bellowed. "Iggy! Gazzy! Let's go! Go, go, go!" Almost reluctantly, they pulled high into the air. Iggy moved through the hawks. By some unspoken message, he communicated that our battle was over. Those beautiful birds swerved gracefully and rocketed upward, making my ears ring with their wild calls.

"One, two, three, four, five." I counted, rounding up my own flock and urging them higher. "Fang! Get Angel!" Angel had managed to stay airborne all this time, but she was sagging and losing altitude fast. The Gasman and Fang was about to go back for her when a flash of white covered her and suddenly I found Jack flying close to me holding Angel in her arms and flapping a pair of huge snow white wings with a few black specks. Next to her side was her flock members with the older dark hair mutant having blue wings, his younger brother with wings similar to Fang's, and the other girl of the group with dark gray wings with hints of sliver flying next to us. More whitecoats and Erasers steamed out of the building, but we were too high and moving too fast for them to hurt us. _So long, cretins, _I thought. _School is out-forever._

"Max! Jack!" That voice tugged my gaze downward along with Jack. Jeb stood there. He must have gotten caught in the hawk attack, because his white coat was torn, his shoulder red with blood. "Maximum! Jack!" he yelled again. The expression on his face wasn't anger-it was something that I didn't recognize.

"Max! Jack! _Please!_ This was all a test! Don't you get it? You were _safe_ here! This was only a _test! _You have to trust me-I'm the only one you _can _trust! Please! Come back-let me explain!" I looked at him, the man who had saved my life four years ago, taught me practically everything I knew, comforted me when I cried, cheered me on when I fought, held my hair back when I was heaving my Wheaties, the closest thing I ever had to a dad…

"I don't think so," I said tiredly as Jack nodded in agreement. Then I pushed down hard and let my wings carry me far away, up to where my family was waiting as was Jack's.

Angel

Two hours-one of which filled with stupid rain-later, Lake Mead came into view, along with the cliff top covered with huge hawks who had rescued us. The six of us, together again and with four more, landed gracefully on the scraped-out ledge. Angel collapsed onto the cool, dust-covered floor of the cave when Jack put her down. I sank down next to her, stroking her hair.

"I thought I would never see you again," she said, and a single tear rolled down her face. "They did all kinds of stuff to me, Max. Terrible. Terrible. Terrible."

"I would _never_ quit trying to get you back," I told her, feeling like my heart was going to overflow. "There's no way I would ever let them keep you. They would have to kill me first." I noticed out the corner of my eye that Jack pulled some towels out of her backpack and handing them out as everyone needed them while the older mutant got a fire started to help dry them off and warm the cave up.

"They almost did," she said, her voice breaking. I gathered her to me and held her for a long time.

"This is how it should be forever," Iggy sad. "All of us together." I looked up to where Fang was leaning against a wall, facing the canyon. He felt my gaze and turned. I held out my left fist. Almost smiling, he came and stacked his left fist on top of it. One by one, the others joined us, and I disentangled my right hand from Angel's hair and tapped the backs of theirs.

"I'm just… so thankful," I said. Nudge looked at me with faint surprise. Okay, so I'm not the most mushy person ever. I mean, I love my family and I try to be nice to them, but I don't go telling them how much I love them all the time… I should fix that. "I mean," I said, feeling really self-conscious, "this made me realize how much we all need one another. I need _all _of you. I love you all. But five of us, or three of us, two of us isn't _us. _Us is all six."

And was examining his sneakers with great interest. Iggy was nervously tapping long white fingers against his leg. But my little guys got what I was saying. Nudge threw her arms around my neck. "I love you too, Max! I love all of us too."

"Yeah, me too." said the Gasman. "I don't care if we have our house, or a cliff ledge, or a cardboard box. Home is wherever we all are, together." I hugged him, and he nestled against me, looking happy. Suddenly, a large tan fist was in my face.

"Heh. Forgetting you picked up four more?" Jack grinned a big grin that fit her face as her eyes were closed. She looked like a fox with a towel on its head.

"Yeah… Sorry for the…Er."

"Nah… Don't worry about it." Jack sighed. "Sakura and Sasuke are like my family, too. I don't know what I would do if something happened to them… Itachi is also slowly growing on me, too…" Jack noticed I was staring at her when she took off the towel on her head. "What?"

"Dude! She got grandma hair!" Gassy shouted while Fang paled at seeing Jack's hair.

"Naruto! I thought you said the hair dye was permanent!" The now only red head of Jack's group shouted. However, I raised an eyebrow. Jack was also named Naruto? That's weird.

"…It is permanent hair dye..." Jack touched her hair and sighed. "I get it… My body can reject stuff like hair dye because of my ability to change appearance. Since I got called by my old name, the name I often refer my current form as, I guess my hair produced an oil to get rid of the hair dye."

"Old name? I thought your name was Uzumaki Naruto." The younger dark hair mutant said in confusion.

"Wait… Could you four just introduce yourselves a little to help us out?" I sighed. "Just name and age."

"Sure, I'm Haruno Sakura and I'm thirteen," the red head chimed.

"…Uchiha Sasuke.. Age thirteen…" I instantly knew we had a little Fang in the group… I was bad enough with just one.

"I am Uchiha Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, and I am eighteen years old." I looked at the older brother of the group with shock. He was eighteen years of age, the oldest I known of a mutant living.

"The name my parents gave me at birth is Uzumaki Naruto, but the name I choose before finding out is Jack Frost. I'm just glad to have reached my nineteen birthday a couple of days ago." All of the flock, well, my flock looked at Jack with shock. At least we now know we will possibly reach almost to our twenties… Hopefully… But, what was with Jack's hair… It was white like an old lady's hair.

"…My hair is naturally like this as Sakura's is naturally pink. The School works through two worlds." Jack sighed.

"…Uh… Is that possible?" Nudge asked me as I was wondering if that was even possible.

"It _is_ possible." Jack sighed, having read my mind.

"So, they have space ships like aliens from what I saw on T.V!" Gazzy shouted.

"No… Galactic wise, no… Dimension wise, yes…" Jack sighed. "The world my flock is born from connected to this world over a hundred years ago and because back then our side was more advanced helped the scientist here who were trying to make mutants… Now, our world is mainly used as an holding place for deadly experiments or experiments that are dying and collecting animal DNA as there are a lot of species that are extinct here that are alive and well in our world. However, our world happens to be safer then here. Especially now that confirmed my suspicions of an underground mutant project that was going on in Konoha."

"What are you talking about, Naruto?"Sakura asked as I was wondering the same thing.

"I wasn't able to get a lot of info back at the School, but I managed to at least get enough to find a new mutant program has been set up, but somewhat thrown out where they put in the animal genes like usually, but not cause any mutations till the 'experiment' is older in way to product longer lasting specimens. They tried getting the crop from Konoha by adding the mutating stuff into Konoha's water supply several times, but it was too weak to cause any major effects on those with the genes." Jack sighed.

"So you mean we were technically like this when we were born!?" Sasuke shouted in shock this time. I was kind of shocked as well.

"Hai… However, I don't have enough creditable evidence… But, since Baa-chan is a medic-nin and the Hokage, she will know what to look for in plausible evidence." Jack sighed, pulling what looked like a game console out of her pack, I was shocked when she pushed the bottom up to expose it was really a little computer. "I'm just glad those idiot whitecoats never check stuff like this or even try putting trackers in them. If they did, they would have figured out I figured out how to make the same interdimension communication tech they have."

"Baa-chan?" I asked as Sakura fired off some wicked fast punches at Jack, who dodged while typing on her handheld computer.

"Don't call the Hokage that!!" Sakura shouted.

"Well, she is old. Plus, I see her like family as well and she will probably be the only doctor I will ever be able to trust." Jack sighed before closing the computer. "But, we best rest… I mean, we all that has happened, I'm _starving_," Jack groaned as a roar came from her stomach.

"… You could probably eat one of the giant tigers from the Forest of Death if you wanted to and leave nothing but bones…" Itachi sighed as everyone paled… Who knew Jack had such a big stomach…

Later on, we all slept, and awoke in the night to heavy rain, a miracle in the desert. We scrambled up to the ledge and let the rain pour down on us, washing off blood, dirt, and memories as the earlier storm was not as effective. Even raindrops hitting my nose hurt, but I held my arms open to the sky and felt clean and cold and shivery. I shivered, and Fang briskly rubbed my shoulders. I looked at him, his eyes as dark as the desert sky.

"Jeb knows our house," I said very softly… I knew what Jack said sounded the best idea, but she also explained that they had to find another School with the device to take them to the other world. Till then, she didn't know what they were all going to do.

Fang nodded. "Can't ever go back. Guess we need a new home." I could tell Fang was also thinking of what Jack said.

"Yes," I said, thinking. I closed my eyes and opened my mouth slightly, inhaling the chill, rain-washed air. I opened my eyes. "East," I said, feeling the rightness of it. "We'll go east."

Angel

Normal POV, Konoha, Gaia

"… I can't believe this…" Tsunade sighed while looking at the records Naruto had messaged her to check.

"What's wrong, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked, carrying some more medical files Tsunade had asked for all of the sudden.

"…No… I can believe this…" Tsunade pinched the bridge of her nose. "Shizune. I need you to take samples of water from several places in Konoha, especially in the houses of the ninja clans."

"Huh? Why is that, Lady Tsunade," Shizune then noticed the notes on Tsunade's desk and gasped. "No way… H-How?"

"Yes," Tsunade said while having a serious face on. "Someone has been messing with the genetics of Konoha's citizens and I am going to make sure to get rid of these criminals and make them wish they were never born." Tsunade growled before looking at the photo on her desk with Naruto as the Uzumaki Naruto she found was dead and Naruto was posing as the dead Naruto to hide from the same criminals. 'Naruto… Whoever you really are… You better be safe…'

"Achoo!!!" Jack/Naruto sneezed while sniffling. "Agh… I think I stayed in the rain too long."

"Sounds like it." Max sighed, having noticed Naruto was still awake. "But, Jack… Which name would you be preferred to be called as you have two names?"

"…It doesn't matter… I'm used to both." Max sweated as Naruto sighed. "Whatever you feel more comfortable calling me like your littlest big man." Naruto grinned at Max. "Plus… You probably don't trust me anyways…"

"Is it about being a killer?" Max frowned at the white hair teenager.

"Yeah… I was originally designed to be a new Eraser breed, but then they discovered my psychic powers, I became a subject… An experiment… Since I am half predator bird, I kind of have a hunting drive and a need for meat… However, I prefer sugar and junk foods instead of human flesh and such… So don't worry… I only kill to protect people I see as my precious people… And you and your friends are slowly becoming my precious people." Naruto sighed as Max sat next to her and they looked at the rain.

"…And Itachi?" Max asked.

"He was forced into a corner with that… Let's just say our world has its other bad guys as well." Naruto sighed.

"Well… I can tell you both are good people… I don't fully trust you, yet, but I want to know more about you." Max sighed.

"Well… You want the complete long version or just the version of being from my mutant life and leave out the part where I took on another person's identity to live in peace?" Naruto asked while pulling out two candy bars and giving one to Max.

"I want the full story." Max said while glaring at Naruto.

"Alright… Well, I was born nineteen years ago and I know I was born from a pair of merchants…."

Ch.2 End

Okay! Yeah, this was a long chapter… But here is the list again below, so review to vote or just review to tell me what you think.

Naruto: Kotodama user(make stuff with words she says), astral projection (pushing soul out of body and can possess other people), intangibility(go though walls and other solid objects),telekinesis(moving stuff with mind), aerokinesis (air and wind verison of pyrokinesis), and psychic empathy(feel other's emotions)

Sasuke:lighting verison of pyrokinesis(Izzy and Gasman's favorite), pyrokinesis(another Izzy and Gasman's favorite) superhuman speed, remote viewing(basically seeing things far away like seeing something hundreds of miles away), and Illusion-pyschic powered verison of genjutsu like the Tsukuyomi and you all know who is going to be Sasuke's first victim if he gets this.)

Sakura:immune to toxins(self-explaining), superstrengh, astral projection, and x-ray vision(kind of like the Byakugan, but she can only use it for a short time and can't see chakra)

Itachi: Illusion(to replace the Mangenkyou Sharingan and Tsukuyomi), telekinesis, remote viewing, and gravity control(since we all know Itachi is a defense guy, why not make it so he can make the baddie hit the ground?).


	3. Chapter 3 The Metal Jungle

Disclaimer-I do not own Naruto, Maximum Ride, or any James Patterson novels.

Author-note: Yo! Here's chapter three of Maximum Ninja: Angel Ride! Now, I decided I will be switiching P.O.V's per chapter. For example, it will be Naruto's P.O.V. this chapter and the next will be Max and I will be switching between them. However, I decided to do slight cross with another James Patterson novel. However, more info will be at the end. Now, here the story!

"Talk" 'Thought' Normal

_"Thoughts outside" Person's thoughts/inner_

* * *

Ch.3 "The Metal Jungle"

Endless, beautiful blue sky, high above the clouds, close to the jet stream where the air is a lot chiller, but the warmth of the closer sun come through the light, thin air is very comfortable. Quite lovely indeed.

I-Uzumaki Naruto/Jack/Berryhead-felt very happy with myself. My group of four was now on the run with six other mutants, possibly for the rest of our lives if we don't get back to my world and to Konoha, but right now it didn't care. Yesterday, we'd escaped the pups of the underworld at the horrid School, after all. We'd had the pleasure of seeing our friends the hawks do some handy claw work on the whitecoats and the Erasers. At least Max got her Angel back.

I glanced over at Angel who was still quite a mess. I knew it was going to take a couple of days for the small child to recover from what the whitecoats did to her. In the pit of my stomach, I could sense my fury and anger I was holding back along with the whispers from the fox to go berserk. As if I would give the Kyuubi an excuse to use its chakra now with no need. No, both of us knew that my body made it nearly impossible for the Kyuubi to escape and I can control the Kyuubi's chakra as long as I keep my emotions in check… So, far, though, I still got a lot of work to do. I noticed Angel had turned to Max and smiled at her mother figure and saw the large healing bruise on her face. That… just brought back a lot of memories I did not want to remember from the School. At least Konoha never attacked me for being a Jinchuriki, even though emotional abuse was just as bad.

"God!" I saw Nudge, one of Max's flock, had caught up to Max. "It's just so, so…You know?" I watched the only other dark skin person of the group other than me swooped down gracefully, then rose again and pulled alongside Max. I knew what she was trying to say. Flying is always an amazing thing, especially after not doing it for so long like I had. Max also had agreed to her…And then I discovered what Nudge channel is. "I mean, the air, and we're up so high, and no one's after us, and we're all together with four more, and we hit IHOP for breakfast." Yum…. I love IHOP, though they probably hate me for the weird concoctions I make like the bacon and sausage between chocolate chip waffles with cameral, chocolate, and maple syrup. "I mean, God, we're just up here, and it's so cool, and down below kids are stuck in school or, like, cleaning their rooms. I used to hate cleaning my room."

Man, Nudge has a motor mouth? And I though Ino could get going when she was in a talkative move. However, then, I had a seizure. My body filled with pain and I did everything possible to keep my muscles locked in their current position to keep me in the air as pain, horrible, _searing_ pain flooded my body, making it soon impossible for me to speak and I could barely think.

_"Max?"_ Nudge screamed and I saw Max dropping like a rock, tears going down her cheeks like I was currently experiencing. This was bad. A double seizure was going on… Why does something always go wrong?

I watched as Max kept failing, probably praying for the pain to go away when she died hitting the ground before her flockmate Fang shot down and caught her, brought her back to altitude, though I am amazed no one had noticed the fact I was slowly going down in altitude at this moment, my body ridged like a rock and tears of pain going down my cheeks. Oh, wait… No, not salty tears, but tears of _blood_ as the tears had gone somewhat in my mouth and I could taste the coppery substance. Luckily, thanks to everyone being more focused on Max and didn't notice my red tears as the atomic bomb, the epicenter of pain, going off in my head slowly died down and my body loosen back up and I quickly wiped my tears away, though the blood probably smeared and my body was aching sorely, so once the attention was off Max… Well…

"Man, you weigh a freaking ton," Fang told Max. "What've you been eating, rocks?"

"Why, is your head missing some?" Well, at least Max is doing slightly fine.

"Max, are you okay?" Now, that had to be the funniest thing I heard from Nudge. You just saw the person you could see as your mother go through something similar to a stroke and you just ask "Are you okay?"

"Un-huh… Find a place to land," I heard Max mumble. "Please."

"Whoa? Granny got blood on her face!" I glared at Gazzy. I was not a granny! Sure, I got white hair, but I am not _that_ old!

"Naruto, what happened?" Sakura shouted in fear as I held my head, my headache coming back from Sakura's scream.

"…I had what Max had. A seizure," Well, that's what I had called these episodes though this was the worse one I had and the only other ones was before I transformed back to normal. We landed and we rested for an hour and so to have recovered from whatever hit Max and me, so everyone was making camp for the night.

"Yo, watch it! Clear more of that brush away-we don't want the whole forest to burn down." I heard Max ordering while helping with fixing up the camp while I was lying on my back. Even though the pain was gone, for some reason I felt kind of weird with my stomach. You know that kind of icky feeling when you know you have a sour stomach?

"Guess you're feeling like your old self," Fang murmured, kicking some dead branches away from where I saw Iggy-the blind guy of Max's group-was trying to light a fire. Now, I don't know why a blind kid is messing with fire, but I guessed the dude was a pyromaniac as Sasuke did the hand seals for the Goukakyuu no Jutsu and used a small fireball to light the sit and Iggy frowned at him.

"Wow! How did you do that?" I smirked, seeing Gazzy with his eyes sparkling. Ah, the innocence of youth. It can be very dangerous at times, but always amusing.

"Our world focused more on fighting than technology." I sighed, answering the question. "Because, do you know the ninjas from T.V.?" I saw Gazzy and Iggy nod. "Well, our world is basically like all those anime and manga here on ninja. We can use jutsu, summon large animals, and other things normal people can't do. It was these abilities that sparked the whitecoats interest into making mutants. But, then again, it isn't all fun and games being a ninja, especially in our world which lags in tech in most areas and other areas have somewhat better tech. Our world is always at war for some reason."

"Oh…" That at least kept them from asking anymore as they all began to experiment with what they could cook with sticks. My stomach twisted and I just looked away from the fire and food. I was not in the mood to throw-up, even though I was used to it from my…habits of being half-bird. However, even though Max was hiding it, I could read her thoughts or, more specifically, her worries as to what just happened a while ago.

There is this lovely thing the guys and gals back at the School was doing was really dangerous stuff. You know, combine DNA of human and nonhuman together, basically, the spliced genes started to unravel after a while and the organisms die. I have seen some pretty wicked ways to go for mutants: starvation from unable to digest, complete body shut down, and even limbs falling off as the cells decayed while subjects were alive. Even Erasers had similar problems with life span. They grew up quickly and then fell apart and died around six years or so even with being improved all the time.

Max was probably wondering how much time we had to live as we, too, were mutants and thought that what happened today were both of us beginning to devolve and expire. I hoped not as everyone fell asleep while I stayed awake, listening with my sensitive ears of any trouble that might come. I don't know when I will expire, though I have a feeling these seizures were something else… But, what, I did not know.

I heard rustling and heard Angel tap Max's knee. "Max, wake up."

"I'm awake." Max pulled herself up and I guessed from what I was hearing she had Angel climb into her lap and she stroked Angel's hair like a mother would.

"I've got a secret. From when I was at the School. It's about us. Where we came from?"

_Ah, crap, this just opened a Pandora's Box._ I thought as Max asked what Angel meant, though I knew she was thinking something like what I just thought, though now she made sure to haul her thoughts to probably keep Angel from reading them.

"I heard stuff…" Angel said innocently.

"Stuff people said or stuff people _thought_?" Max asked as I could hear slightly the worry in her voice.

"Stuff people thought," Angel said, he voice showing she was tired. Max was thinking of waiting till tomorrow to talk about it. "No, I want to tell you now," Angel said having also read Max's thoughts. "I mean, it's just stuff I sort of heard. I didn't understand all of it-chunks were missing. And it was from a couple different people."

"From Jeb?"

"No… She probably experienced the same thing as I did." Max and Angel were staring at my back as I spoke. I could _feel_ them looking at him. "All I got from him was nothing. White noise… As if he was _dead_ in the head."

"Yeah…" Angel nodded before going on as I gave her a quick message of saying it was all right with my mind. "They kept doing tests, you know, and they were all thinking about me, about the flock, like, wondering where you were and if you would try to come get me."

"Which we _did_," Max proudly announced. I could tell she was so happy to have Angel back… I wonder what it would be like if I lost Sasuke or Sakura… Heck, even possibly losing Ero-Sennin or Kakashi… But, that's one of the good things I guess being a mutant gave me. The possibility I have a short life span and dying before losing any of my precious ones.

"Yeah," Angel agreed. "Anyways, I found out that another place has information about us-like where we came from." Now I knew Max was awake from hearing that.

"What?" Max asked, shocked. "Like our life span? Or where they got our DNA?" I guess all that worrying Max had been doing was indeed on how long they will live as I heard a slight crack when Angel nodded her head. Her neck must be still stiff from being in a small cage.

"Well, spill it!" I heard Iggy shouted and now everyone was awake including my group. The guy really needed to take a chill pill as the person with the info was a kid.

"They have files on us," Angel said while looking down. "Like the main files. They're in New York. At a place called the Institute." Suddenly, a headache was forming in my head again very slowly.

"The Institute?" Max asked. "In New York City or upstate New York?"

"I don't know," Angel said. "I _think_ it was called the Institute. The Living Institute or something." Max gripped her head like I did when we both felt a bad headache came, but mine was worst.

"Three institutes within New York City, New York. All within an equilateral triangle with the center of the three coordinates is 40.75376 latitude, -73.98391 longitude. Only one of three is currently running as a full research center as other two are relay stations…" I kept mumbling, my mouth on auto-pilot for a good minute before I had control again. It wasn't the first time this has happened to me, but man, I thought I had it under control after not having it happen since the first day of the academy and creeping everyone out. There went my chances of getting friends from any of that group of kids when that happened.

"Jack… What the _heck_ was _that_?" Max said, unknowingly rhyming in the process. Yeah, I like getting off subject, but when you read minds, learning how to keep those thoughts out of your head forms into a habit.

"A glitch, or that is what I call it." I sighed, sitting up as now my throat hurt. "Sometimes, certain things will cause my brain to go on auto-pilot and unleash a bit of information suddenly onto me or-as you all just saw-make my mouth go out of control, saying the information out automatically. I probably been in New York once and the information of the placement came up, but since I probably been to all three of the places there, I don't know the exact location." And, this glitch thing also makes my throat hurt. A lot as my voice goes computer like. If only I could get that to work when I want to sing those new rap songs with computer voiceovers, then that would be awesome.

"So, basically, you just confirmed that what Angel was saying is true?" Iggy asked as I nodded.

"I have been moved to many Schools and Institutes to be studied on. Since they experimented on how to make the living brain more like a computer with me, my brain is more like a computer, so the best I can remember is coordinates, not actual instructions to where." I apologized while taking the canteen Sakura had and drank from it. The water helped soothed my throat some, but not enough to get the pain to go away completely. However, I could see Fang and Max silently agreeing to go to that place. Well, if this Institute had the info on them, then it could also tell them where to go to find one of the dimension gate machines.

"There's more," I felt my stomach sink as I heard Angel's voice waver. "You know how we always talk about parents but didn't really know if we were made in test tubes." I saw Max nod.

"I saw my name in Jeb's old files," Nudge insisted. "I really did."

"I know, Nudge," Max said in a sigh. "Listen to Angel for a minute."

"Nudge is right," Angel blurted out, unable to control herself anymore. "We did have parents-real parents. We weren't made in test tubes. We were born, like real babies. We were born from human mothers."

I flinched as the silence that came afterwards. It was so silent, I could heard mice squeaking a good ways from us. From how tense everyone was, even my friends, if rustle came from the bushes, we would have jumped high. Really, _really _high.

"You've sat on this since yesterday?" Iggy sounded outraged. "What's the matter with you? Just because you're the youngest doesn't mean you have to be the dumb-" I shut him up, shocking everyone with my speed by appearing before him and slamming my hand over his mouth.

"Will you chill? I can understand how you feel, but you have to remember how _hectic_ it had been the past days, especially with the _youngest_ recovering from being _experimented_ on." I sneered, my eyes had their mad gleam in them as everyone was looking at me with shock and even the blind kid could tell I was mad. "You think she would have told us sooner if she felt _better_?" I sighed, Max and I exchanging looks and she nodded at me. "Now, let her speak now that she s up to it." I took my hand off of Iggy's mouth and the blind dude nodded, moving his head to look like he was looking down. "Now, go on."

"I only got bits and pieces," Angel said uncomfortably, though I can understand after she saw me shut her pal up quickly and roughly as well. "I'm sorry, everybody. I've felt yucky…and it makes me really, really sad too. I don't wanna cry again. Awhh, I crying again." I looked at Angel who was indeed crying.

_It's alright. I'll protect you._ I thought and Angel nodded, getting the thought.

"It's okay, Angel," Fang said in his low, quiet voice. "We understand. You're safe now, here with us." I could see Nudge and Gazzy also on edge Max got her other arm around Gazzy and holding Angel in the other.

"It sounded like," Angel began slowly, "we came from different places, different hospitals. But they got us after we were born. We _weren't_ test-tube babies."

"How did they get us?" Fang asked. "And how did they get the bird genes into us?"

"I didn't really understand," the small blond sighed. "It sounded like-like they got the genes into us before we were born somehow." She rubbed her forehead. "With a test? An amino…ammo."

"Amniocentesis?" Max asked as I could tell she was outraged.

"Yeah," Angel said. "That's it. And somehow they got the bird genes into us with it."

"Actually, any test involving genetics they do it in." Everyone looked at me. "It's just amniocentesis is the most common one they use. Basically, while we are super small in the womb, they put the extra genes in us." Max nodded at me for at least helping her explain that little mess. "Now, go on."

"So, we got born, and the doctors gave us to the School," Angel went on. "I heard-I heard that they told Nudge's mom and dad that she had died. But, she hadn't."

"I _did_ have a mom and dad," Nudge whispered, her eyes big. "I _did!_"

"And Iggy's mom-died," Angel took in a shuddering breath. "She died when he was born." I saw the grief on Iggy's face. I knew how he felt. My mom also died when I was born and I could tell Max could wish she could take the pain away from her flock. Sadly, having pain is one of the things that make things alive.

"What about us?" Gazzy asked, "How could they get both of us, two years apart?" I instantly knew that answer.

Angel wiped her eyes. "Our parents gave us to the School _themselves_," she said, and started crying again, her thin shoulders shaking. I saw the pour Gasman's mouth dropped in shock and asked the question as known as "What?" "They _wanted_ to help the School," Angel said, gasping out the words through her sobs. "They _let_ them put bird genes in us. And gave us away for money." I didn't look at Max as I now heard Gazzy crying. I knew all too well how cruel the world can be… In fact, many slaves in my world were given freedom is they gave their child to the School and half the time, it was _lies_.

"Did you hear anything about me? Or Max?" I looked at Fang who was taking his fury off on a stick, his stiff shoulders showing his casual tone to be a lie.

"Your mom thought you died, like Nudge," Angel said. "She was a teenager. They don't know who your dad was. But they told your mom you died." I heard a snap and saw Fang snapped the twig in his hand and his eyes reflect much pain as like the fire they had going on as well.

Max cleared her throat. "What about me?" Max asked and I could read a wave of thoughts going though her head, all desires of having at least a mother.

"I didn't hear anything about you, Max. Nothing. I'm real sorry." Max nodded, understanding. "But, I did hear something about Jack."

"Me?" I asked, cocking my head. I knew at least my parents as I dug into several data bases. It was easy for me as I have quite a creative mind, though I still experience the usual "stupidity" everyone even geniuses go through.

"Yeah… At first, I didn't know who you were till I met you. They thought of some really strange things about you." Angel said as Gazzy wiped his tears, mumbling about how his parents were jerks.

"Heh. Probably the usual junk of my amazing ability to find and use any sharp object as a weapon or the fact I can get bored and make my mush they try to feed me into perfect replicates of major land marks. My favorite one was the Mount Rushmore as it looks like the Hokage Mountain." I sighed. There are _many_ things the whitecoats dubbed as "weird" or "strange" about me. But, hey, if everyone-mutant or not- was the same, then what was the fun in life?

"No… It actually relates to all of us." Okay, that got mine and everyone's attention. "It's the reason we all ended up better than the Erasers."

"_Really?_ What's so special about me?" I asked, curious.

"…You aren't human." Angel said as everyone looked at me as I cocked my head again. Don't worry, this is a normal habit for me for being confused.

"Uh, yeah, I am _half_-bird." I stated the matter of fact that we are all technically "not human."

"No… You have no _human_ DNA… Because your parents weren't human." Angel said as I blinked.

"So, what _were_ my parents?" I asked, guessing one of those scientists must have come from Konoha. My parents were human… Or, at least I was _praying_ they were.

"…The whitecoats don't know… All they know is that they faked their deaths after you disappeared and then somehow appeared here in _this_ world somehow. Though, they also disappeared here as well." Now, I was shocked… My parents… were still possibly alive? "But… You're DNA is somehow able to allow changes in it and they used that special DNA to help graft our bird genes into our bodies… But, from what I managed to get from the rumors… The whitecoats believe your parents… are real aliens." Angel said as I froze. How the heck was I suppose to say something after hearing something like _that_ from a _mind-reading_ six year old?

I, however, did do something. I just got up and jumped into one of the trees to get away. I needed time to think, but I was also tired from my seizure before.

-Angel-

"Yo! Up and at 'em!" I groaned at Max shouting as I woke from sleeping on a branch. Ain't the first time I done it, but I was grateful of the fact I was _still_ on the branch as I have fallen onto the ground several times doing that. Trust me, that ain't fun at all. I listened to Max getting the fire back up and watching up everyone by kicking them, including my group-which made me smirk some-before cooking what I smell to be popcorn for breakfast, something I bet many kids wish they could eat that for one of the three meals of the day. But, boy, who ever could sleep through the loud popping of popcorn has to be either dead or deaf from how loud it was and how I saw my group jumped up, thinking it was a battle.

"We're headed for the Big Apple, guys. The city that never sleeps. I think we're maybe six, seven hours away." Max chimed.

"Where's Naruto?"Sakura asked before I scared her by jumping down from the tree I was in and that got me several punches thrown at me by said now red head, which I easily dodged. "Naruto! Don't do that!"

"Hey, technically, I am a ninja, so that's part of my job." I grinned as Sakura snorted and turned to our wonderful grain breakfast. What? Popcorn is made from corn which is a grain… Never mind…

After eating and making sure we put the fire out, we were taking off. Max and I decided to go last, but right when we leaped into the air and beating our wings, our brains unleashed another bomb and we hit the ground, hard.

"Max? Is it like before?" Fang asked Max, but neither of us could do a thing. I was used to all sorts of pains. But this was the first time I was this much pain and I heard a high, keening sound and barely saw it was Max screaming. I couldn't as I was biting into my lips to the point I was bleeding. Then, my vision went crazy on me. First, it was fireworks before images flashed past my retinas that made me sick from how fast the images of blurred buildings, fuzzy landscapes, unrecognizable people's faces, food, headlines from papers, old stuff in black-and-white, psychedelic stuff, swirly patterns, and etc… It was like someone hit download on a lot of stuff and I was the suffering hard drive trying to take all the data at once.

However, once the pain and movie from hell was over in my brain, I puked and Max, who managed to at least get over to the bushes, did the same. Yeah, this was now getting official freaky. First, I have a six year old tell me my parents are outer space aliens and now I was ill and someone else was also ill, getting said illness at same exact by second kind.

"Max, what is the _matter_ with you?" I heard Angel asked, sounding quite scared. She was also looking at me, but I guessed she probably knew I was guessing Max and I was suffering from the same problem and only asked Max. I don't mind. I am not good with answering things for kids.

"Think you should see a doctor?" Fang asked mildly, but his eyes were piercing us both.

"Oh, yes, _that's_ a good idea," Max said weakly. "We need to let _more_ people in authority know about us." He was about to complain, but Max stopped him. "I'm okay now," Max said through her teeth as I knew neither of us was really "okay." "Maybe it's a stomach bug or something." Oh, yeah, blame the stomach for a brain implosion. Why does everyone blame the stomach for something bad or illness anyways?

"Naruto, are you alright?" Sasuke actually managed to sound as if he was worried for once.

"Yeah… Let's go to New York." I sighed as I knew this was going to be one long journey. We all launched back into the sky, both were relieved the pain didn't come back even though we felt sick. I tuned out Nudge's talk about parents, thinking about my own. If they were alive and somewhere on this planet, I wanted to find them as I wanted to know the truth. But first, I would get the others to a safe place before doing that.

However, then I got a _flood_ of thoughts from Max. I wondered what the heck was going on as to why her thoughts easily flowed past my mind block, but the thoughts of this Dr. Martinez and Ella made me feel better… Then, it went to cookies… Great, my stomach is still sour and she just had to beginning thinking of my one weakness!

"Oh, my God!" Max muttered as we looked at the light below. I knew Itachi, Sakura, and Sasuke was speechless of this, especially after the hours we put in just to get to this place. Most of New York is at the bottom part of a long thin island known as Manhattan Island. It was easy to tell where it ends and starts thanks to the lights and the thick river that surrounds Manhattan. Almost everything was alit and beautiful. Makes having these blasted wings seem somewhat worth the suffering we been through.

"That's a _lot_ of people." I heard Fang said and I read his mind. Boy, gotta love the fact many mutants have claustrophobic and paranoid problems. I'm one of the few mutants who isn't paranoid twenty-four seven and I like closed in places. Reminds me of a burrow which I slept in once. Quite comfortable indeed if you like to know as I blocked out Nudge who had gone motor mouth.

I then heard music, which Iggy pointed out voice wise, and I looked down to instantly know we were over Central Park and the lovely fact a concert was going on. However, as the group was talking, I caught onto Max's plans of using the concert as a landing zone… Amazingly, we all managed to land by some thick oaks and quickly hid our wings… Well, I pulled mine inside my hoodie which I wore the hood over my head all the time now thanks to my white hair. Once we knew everyone was accounted for, we walked through the crowd, acting normal… Well, as normal as kids with wings and ninja training can do. I then realized this was a Taylor Twin concert and it seemed Max's flock liked this group of performers. We stood at the back of the crowd and enjoyed the concert. Even Itachi and Sasuke liked it, and I rarely seen them showing any kind of happiness-mainly with Sasuke.

However, once the concert was over and people began to leave, we blended into the shadows like ninja as four of us were and jumped into the thick branches of the trees.

"That was awesome," Nudge said happily which Sakura nodded in agreement. "I can't believe how many people there are, all crowded into one place. I mean, listen… _There's no silence, ever._ I can hear people and traffic and sirens and dogs barking. I mean, it was always so quiet back at home."

"Too quiet." Gazzy added as Sasuke thought about how quiet the Uchiha compound was. It was hard to tell if you didn't have mind reading abilities like me… But, then again, I could see the slight hint of pain and sadness in his eyes of remembering his home.

"Well, I hate it," I heard Iggy said flatly. "When it's quiet, I can tell where the heck things are, people are, where echoes are bouncing off. Here I'm just surrounded with a thick, smothering wall of sound. I want to get out of here." I agreed with Iggy. My sight maybe still working, but my main point was my sensitive hearing from being part owl. The sounds around us were painfully loud to me and probably the same for the blind kid.

"We're here to find out what we can about the Institute," Max reminded both of them. "I'm sorry, Iggy, but maybe you'll get a little more used to it soon. And Nudge, this isn't a pleasure trip. Our goal is to find the Institute."

"How are we gonna do that?" Angel asked.

"_I have a plan_," Max firmly said. It was a lie… And Max knew it, but then again, they needed to rest some, and then think of a plan. Right now, rest sounded good to me as I was still stuck on the fact that my parents could possibly be nonhuman.

-Angel-

New York City is quite a place. When we woke up, people of all types were going through. It was Konoha when a festival was going through. But, also, a whole lot of thoughts were going up in the air as well as I had my "thought radar" up, filtering out what a jogger was thinking to what parents were thinking.

"That lady has six white poodles!" Nudge hissed behind her hand. "Who needs six white poodles?"

"Maybe she sells them," Max suggested, "to kids with big wide eyes."

"Wow. That's cool." Sakura chimed while watching speed skaters going by. Oh, yeah, skates except ice ones don't exist in my world.

"Something smells awesome," Iggy said, swiveling his head to his head to detect the source. "What is that? It's over there." He pointed to Max's left while my nose instantly recognized the small. Honey-roasted peanuts. Not my favorite, but now my stomach wanted anything right now. Which my wish was answered when Max, Iggy, and Angel went to get some nuts for all of us while the rest went to a clown selling balloons though suddenly my alarm for danger went off in my head.

_"Heh heh! Hunting time!"_

_"I want to rip their wings off and eat 'em!"_

"_Max, everyone, we got Erasers." _ Everyone eyes widen in shock before realizing-or remembering my abilities-it was me speaking into their heads and we gather back together. I counted the thoughts that were clearly Eraser… One… Two three… four… Crap… Eight, though I could only see three of them as we got up to a run, though they were easily trotting and following us… No, _gaining_ on us. Boy, I pitied the bikers and skaters on the path we were as we almost ran over them where I jumped over one short skater.

"Four of them," Fang said. "Pour it on, guys!"

"Crap, eight now." I said as now I could detect where the other ones were and now they came into view with the others after us.

_"Today is Student Day! Yay!"_ My eyes widen as Iggy shouted to go left and then I twisted my head to see the Central Park Zoo and a whole bunches of kids going in.

_"Itachi, younger!"_ Itachi blinked at me before I let my power take over… But, this time, it was different. Usually, it was like the henge without smoke. My body quickly morphed into what human form I had gotten DNA from… But, this time my body seemed to change like a liquid and morphed into my Uzumaki Naruto form, but as an eight year old girl with no whisker marks, black hair in dreads, and green eyes which I just thought off the top of my head which I knew before I could not do before. Itachi did a quick henge into when he looked as a twelve year old before we all merged by Max's order to merge into the crowd. I smirked as a cop stopped the Erasers from entering the zoo. For once they are doing their jobs when they need to!

"Pass, pass, pass…" I looked at the person checking them or should I say just saying one word, not looking at us as we ran into the Zoo and meet at one side where the massive crowd was not at and all slapped high fives.

"Yes!" Gazzy said with a grin on his face. "School day only! Yes! I love this place-Wait, who are you?" I chuckled as Gazzy looked at me.

"Dude. Do you think they would let in eighteen and nineteen year olds? I used my ability to change into this form while Itachi is using an illusion called a henge to hide his age." I did my fox grin while doing the victory sign for Max's entire group to look at me with shock.

"You can change your body at will?" Max asked with shock.

"Yep, yep." I chimed. "Cool, huh? It's one of my first abilities I figure out." But, now it was a mystery again. I never got the DNA for this form, so I am very confused as to how I managed to take on this form… Were my powers evolving?

"The zoo!" Nudge said, practically quivering with excitement. "I've always wanted to see a zoo! I've read about 'em-I've seen them on TV. This is so great! Thanks, Max!" The group talked as we went deeper into the zoo, some of us happy… Some-like me-not as it gave me back my bad memories of being the one behind bars in a cage.

Sakura and Gasman cooed over a polar bear display, but I just shivered. Even though many of the group was having fun, I was being assaulted by my memories… Being locked up in a cage, forced to go through experiments, and even once being dissected while alive which they didn't knock me out before doing. Yeah, this was making me sick to my stomach as well as Max who vocally say what I wanted to say and that was to get out of this place. We took the private way out through two large fake rocks for zookeeper before could. Max or I or both of us threw up.

-Angel-

"You know what I like about New York?" I looked up from my PSP computer, checking to see if Baa-chan sent me any message to see Gazzy eating a hot dog. "It's full of New Yorkers who are freakier than we are."

"So we blend?" Iggy asked, eating ice cream. Well, it's true we kind of blended in. Heck, I look like a gangster for the hood though I need some shoes as I used my as weapons against Jeb. Thank goodness no one here seems to care for a kid without shoes. I blocked out the talk of food from Max's group as I looked back at my PSP. Damn… No new messages.

"Hey, Naruto, are you alright?" I looked up at Itachi who had cut hit henge and back to his eighteen year old glory… Now that I look at him, he grew a few inches in the past days, but still shorter than me by barely being at the six foot mark from my guessing. I guess activating his mutant DNA gave him a short last minute growth spurt.

"What'cha talking about?" I asked, a bit confused and cocked my head. My group has been pretty quiet so far, but with being in such a different world, you can feel really out of place.

"Do you really believe that kid saying your parents are aliens?" Itachi asked, a bit skeptical on the fact of real aliens from what I read his thoughts. Yeah, and we happen to have wings on our backs?

"Can't say. Which is why I want _facts_," I sighed as Sakura and Sasuke gave me a glance, worry on their thoughts. "Which is why we are going to help them find this Institute. Plus, we need such information as when we get to Konoha, they will medical information for treating us back home if we get injured."

Itachi nodded to me, understanding what I was saying. They currently had barely any understanding on their bodies, let alone doctors not from the Schools. "But… What about those episodes Max-san and you were having before."

"…I don't know." I sighed before my eyes malfunctioned with my brain and images with haywire on me for a second before I blinked and everything was back to normal. Great… This was getting too weird. "Just, promise me if something happens to me while in this world, you three will at least go back to Konoha." I whispered for only my group to hear and Itachi nodded and kept my teammates from complaining. "But, I also promise to try to also get back to Konoha with you… Be alive or close to death."

"You better keep it the alive part." Sasuke sighed. Boy, did I wish I did keep that part, but I don't know now. I was shocked to see I was so into my conversation that Max and her gang was going into a library and we caught up with them, but now we looked out of place as it was a pretty fancy library and we didn't look like a bunch of kids who would come to a library even in the middle of nowhere.

"My I help you?" The librarian asked as the group walked up as Max did the talking. I could tell this guy wasn't exactly pleased with us as we looked like a bunch of trouble makers from the way we look… That is till his thoughts suddenly halted. My eyebrow rose before the man replied. "Fourth floor, there are computers in a room off the main reading room. They're free, but you have to sign in." We went to the elevator, but my thoughts were on what the heck just happened. Another freaky thing to add to what has been happening lately list of mine.

However, the computer searching was pretty much a dud. After an hour and a half, we had no good with our-well, mainly Max's-attempts at finding a possible match.

"It's almost closing time, anyways," Fang said.

"Hey, Jack, you're a computer tech. You try," Max groaned in annoyance while I got into the chair and frowned to see the computer crashed. However, I quickly got it back into working condition with my magic fingers and was typing, going to the web when my body froze and then may hands suddenly went on hyper drive, typing in computer commands, shocking even the two Uchiha of our group of ten as suddenly I managed to get a map of New York City up with a strange shaded diagram with the center point of the strange shape at Bryant Park.

"What the heck is that?" Sakura asked as I quickly printed the section of map out and deleted it before heading over to the clerk and getting the printed copy.

"Let's go." I said as they followed me out of the building, noticing I was not in a secure mood. Once out of the building and we were moving I talked. "…I had enough glitch… This here… is our search area. All within an equal triangles in different directions of the coordinates of the midpoint of the three Institutes, one of which we are looking for."

"So, basically, we just narrowed down from searching all of New York City to this strange looking section?" Max asked, taking the paper and looking at it with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes. I am sorry if it isn't so good, though. When I go 'Glitch' mode, I have no control." I sighed, rubbing my hair.

"Can we take the subway back to the park?" Nudge asked as I noticed everyone was tired as they at least decided to sleep in Central Park. We went into the subway and hopped the turnstile as no one was around and it wasn't worth twenty bucks to spend on all of us. However, after ten minutes, no trains came and I was being to think I was going insane as I was hearing what sounded like people.

"People," Iggy said as I snapped out of my thoughts. "In there."

"Workers?" Max asked.

"I don't think so." Iggy sighed as everyone concentrated and they too heard voices. I knew none of these were Eraser voices from tone and we also saw a flickering of a fire down the tunnel.

"Let's go," Max said before leading us into the darkness of the subway. I ignored the lovely conversation about the third rail. I knew about it already and it is something no one needs to touch. I heard the train coming as did Iggy first and we quickly had ourselves pressed against the gross wall before the speeding train went by. I bet that was shocking for my friends as he managed to get off the wall.

However, we were greeted by a loud, rough voice before going through the bend of the tunnel. I frowned as we found a small homeless city. I have been in one before where people with no homes use anything to make shelter. I understood the stares and glares we were getting. Newcomers were rarely welcomed.

But, somehow, we found a place free to sleep and we went over to sleep. Now, I felt a headache coming on… And, while trying to sleep, the brain bomb went off and-like the last two times-Max was also suffering from the same thing. We both managed to keep much quieter this time, but we were both gripping our heads. I couldn't hear Fang as I was covering my ears. Another slideshow of agony went through my brain, making me sick to my stomach… But, this time, I also heard voices, sound, though I couldn't make them out. Personally, I wanted to die right now. Anything was better than this.

"Who's screwing with my Mac?" I managed to hear as the pain started to go away and I sighed, lying on the ground panting in short bursts. I closed my eyes to help keep the pain back. "Who are you? What are you doing? You've crashed my whole system, worthless dipstick!" I managed to look up at who was speaking, but my vision was still on the frizzed and I just stared at the blur.

"What are you talking about?" Fang asked, an edge of steel in his voice.

"My system crashed. I've tracked the interference, and it's comin' from _you_. So I'm tellin' you to knock it off-or else!" I glared at the person shouting at us. Even though I was suffering from some unknown pain, I was really wanting to go my "Jack the Ripper" mode on this guy as from the sound of the voice, the person was a young male. "And what's with _them_? They trippin'?"

"They're fine," Fang snapped. "We don't know anything about your computer. If you're not brain-dead, you'll get out of here."

"I'm not going nowhere till you quit messing with my Mac. Why don't you get your girlfriend and her friend to a hospital?" I smirked at Max who was mad now and got up to at least sitting position.

"Who the hell are you?" Max said as my vision cleared some for me to see the guy was a kid around Max's age wearing old army fatigues, had a dingy PowerBook attached to straps around his shoulder, and holding a computer. I got up, standing, though my stomach wanted to let go as the boy and Max exchanged a few insults.

"This!" The kid showed use his Mac and my eyes widen as the mess I was seeing n my head was on his screen and from the fact Max gasped, she saw the same thing. I tried to make something of the mess as Max and the boy growled at each other after the boy insulted her. However, I jumped when the screen cleared and suddenly something else replaced it.

_Hello, Max. Hello, Jack… Welcome to New York._

I stared at the red letters as Fang and Max looked at each other, looking back at the computer. _I knew you'd both come. I've got big plans for you._ I flinched as Max looked around.

"Can you her that?" She whispered. "Did you hear it?"

"Hear what?" Fang asked.

"That voice?" Max asked.

"…It's a sender." I mumbled, recognizing it being a _mind's_ voice, though one I never heard before.

"What's the deal?" the kid asked, sounding a lot less belligerent and much more weirded out, which I didn't blame him. "Who are Max and Jack? How are you doing this?"

"We're not doing anything," Fang said, though I had to guess my ability to connect with computers was on the frizz and affecting his Mac… That is till a new pain hit Max and me and the hell slideshow happened again. However, when we looked at the screen, we saw something on the screen… _Institute for Higher Living._ However, the Mac suddenly went off. I flinched as I felt another Glitch episode coming up, but this time it was a barrage of memories of being in a small cage, lots of computers… I had been so out of it, within my horrid memories till after I noticed the computer kid gone and Max saying that we seemed so normal after talking to that kid.

"What's up? Iggy asked sleepily, having just wakened up. Max explained what happened to him, trying to hide her fear.

"Maybe I'm going crazy, Max said lightly."But it will lead me to greatness. Like Joan of Arc."

"But controlling other people's computers?" Iggy asked.

"Actually, that was probably me." The three looked at me as I was now sitting down, holding my head. "I _also_ heard the voice. However, this is the first time I ever known a sender to forcibly download information into someone's _skull_, even with my ability to indirectly control computers and even use myself like a junk drive."

"A sender?" Fang asked, looking at me skeptically… Well, all three of them were.

"Telepathy. There are two major types which sometimes like me can be both. You got the receiver like Angel who can read thoughts and then you got a sender who like Itachi and I can send mental messages with our minds. But, I guess Max is somewhat of a receiver as well, but man, who or whatever is sending us stuff into our minds, I wished they stopped. If my powers are going out of whack, then it is not a good thing." I sighed as Max nodded to me in agreement. We both mentally agreed that was possible as now we discovered we could hear each other's thoughts.

"Hmm. Do we think it's connected to the School or the Institute?" Fang asked us both, but I let Max answer as I was feeling sick again.

"Well, either that or I was born this way," Max said sarcastically. "On the off chance I _wasn't_, let's really try to find the Institute tomorrow. At least now we know what name to look for."

"…Not exactly." Max and her two flockmates looked at me. "Even with a name, it's hidden in plain sight and its name won't show up easily… But, maybe… Just _maybe_, if we search… I might have another glitch."

Fang and Iggy looked at me like I was crazy as did Max before she realized something. "You possibly know where it is?"

"Yeah… I just got to get the info to appear out of my brain. Sadly, it's a mess of memory thanks to the whitecoats experiments. But, if we search around, then I might possibly have enough glitch moment and we get another clue." Fang and Iggy nodded, now understanding. We are currently solving a mystery to lead us to the Institute of Higher Living and I just happen to be the container of the clues who just couldn't get them out easily… Yeah, life is a pain.

* * *

Endnote-Alright! Now, if you haven't figure out though the hints though out this chapter, I am planning to do a cross with Daniel X. However, I want to know if I should just make Naruto just "somewhat" like Daniel or should this be a full on one where Naruto is Daniel's older sister? I am letting you, the reviewers, decide! Also, the poll for the later powers are up still and here they are again. However, after the next chapter, it will go down.

Naruto: Astral projection (pushing soul out of body and can possess other people), intangibility(go though walls and other solid objects),telekinesis(moving stuff with mind), aerokinesis (air and wind verison of pyrokinesis), and psychic empathy(feel other's emotions)

Sasuke:lighting verison of pyrokinesis(Izzy and Gasman's favorite), pyrokinesis(another Izzy and Gasman's favorite) superhuman speed, remote viewing(basically seeing things far away like seeing something hundreds of miles away), and Illusion-pyschic powered verison of genjutsu like the Tsukuyomi and you all know who is going to be Sasuke's first victim if he gets this.)

Sakura:immune to toxins(self-explaining), superstrengh, astral projection, and x-ray vision(kind of like the Byakugan, but she can only use it for a short time and can't see chakra)

Itachi: Illusion(to replace the Mangenkyou Sharingan and Tsukuyomi), telekinesis, remote viewing, and gravity control(since we all know Itachi is a defense guy, why not make it so he can make the baddie hit the ground?).

Also, as it seems some people didn't pick up some of the current powers, Naruto's groups current powers are:

Naruto-transformation, telepathy, computer tech powers and skills, and high hearing... Oh, almost forgot sticky fingers. Naruto is a good thief.

Sasuke-telekinesis

Sakura-barriers

Itachi-Pyrokinesis and telepathy-sender only

Alright! Review and tell me what ya think!


	4. Notice

Hello. Sorry for being gone for so long. College had eaten up my time and now that I am back, I find I have to do some major overhauling on what I have on Fanfiction. This is mostly finding due to not being on top of my stories for so long, I have lost my muse for most of them. So, am purging my account and keeping only the stories I will be rewriting or keeping to use as a source for writing original stories as I am trying to get off of fanfiction and creating my own stories.

This is a story up for adoption. If you want to adopt it, PM me with a good summary of where you are planning to go with it. If noone offers an adoption by Dec. 16, I will be deleting this story.


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